GS 211 Week 12.docx

Theories of Development Week 12: Development as Freedom Outline  Introduction: what we have done so far  Why should we be concerned about poverty  The international aid regime and poverty reduction: brief history o Economic growth and trickle down o Basic human needs o Washington Consensus o Human Development- but Aid retreas o Millennium Development Goals  Defining Poverty: some pointers  Armatya Sen  Conclusion Introduction  Macro-economic theories that shaped mainstream development: modernization theory and Neo-Marxist/dependency theories. Economic growth is way out of poverty  Sustainable development: Rist says it is co-opted by imperative of economic growth (oxymoron). Other more positive views of sustainability do exist. Two Critiques: post- structural and feminist critiques o The first accused the hegemonic character of development, the silencing of other people voices, the imposition of neoliberalism all around the world and so forth. o The second (plural) showed how development was forgetting women and gender issues  Today: focus on question of poverty & ways ODA can enhance poverty reduction Most would agree: development=ending poverty HOW TO DO IT?! Huge debate!!  Dominant ideology: economic growth will eventually eliminate poverty  Today’s topic: what are major ways ODA APPROACHED THE TOPIC OF POVERTY REDUCTION o Sen’s approach is most important ones  Poverty is often seen as the antithesis of development but they are not exact opposites: poverty is a condition while development is a process  Millennium Development Goals (MDG): 2015 as a target date for the eradication of extreme poverty Why Should we be Concerned with Poverty?  200 years ago most people were poor  Current ideas about poverty and the gap between rich and poor have been shaped in the context of a “unique era” during which the population income per capita really rose to levels never imagined before BUTrising of per capita income masks huge disparities b/c seen as world’s average!  Many people today express ethical concern about poverty, want to find ways to reduce The International Aid Regime 3.1 Poverty Reduction: Brief History  Post WWII and Cold War: ODA donors believe poverty would decline with economic growth  Economic growth would result in a “trickle down” effect of benefits and the relative share of income of the poor would rise and people would be lifted out of poverty  Argument= technology & human capital were also needed to change methods of production  Belief all societies can modernize and economic measures can accelerate the process Critique: ahistorical perspective 3.2 Basic Human Needs (BHN)  Second major policy to combat poverty in the 1970’s  OECD recognizes important of concept and if development will succeed must meet the basic human needs BUT many cases BHN, was appropriated to re-label ongoing activities, technocratic programming where poor viewed as target groups rather than participant in development  Approach is further legitimatized poverty reduction as an ODA goal separate from growth 3.3 Washington Consensus  1980’S US officials questions utility of poverty programming  1982: Mexico defaults on its debt payments  Enter SAP and Washington Consensus agenda  Private sector is then promoted as THE engine for development  Aid was granted with tighter strings than ever before Western Aid agencies were just gearing up for BHN-oriented programming when the World Bank and IMF decreed poverty reduction is back seat to debt service and adjustment 3.4 Human Development- But AID Retreats SAP impacts: poverty increase UNICEF  Takes lead in study in social impact of SAP  “Adjustment with a human face”  Special measures to alleviate the impact on the people most severely affected World Bank stays on same track but 1990 report talks about poverty again UNDP: creates Human Development Index Tool to development indices of comparative development that wen