Intro
Arguments from academics, NGOs, the United Nations, and ordinary People from around the globe have made claims that little has changed in the World Bank’s approach to concessional lending and debt relief after the fall of the Washington Consensus. As the failures of neoliberalism manifested and the general development discourse began to favor new emerging theories, the World Bank shifted its lending approach from Structural Adjustment Programs to Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs). The PRSPs were meant to be a key tool representing the new and refined post-Washington notion of development with a focus on human rights (Robin Perry). Instead, many argue that SAPs and PRSPs are the same in concept with merely a different name. While this essay does not refute that PRSPs encompass many of the core neoliberal principles that were characteristic of SAPs, it does seek to explore the question, in what ways did the World Bank’s approach to PRSPs encompass mainstream development discourse at the time? Rather than focusing on the lack of change between SAPs and PRSPs, as most scholarly work on the subject has, this essay looks to focus on the changes implemented during the shift. This essay is also not trying to answer the question, how effective or ‘good’ were the PRSPs, but simply what development theories helped to influence its approach.
The shift from Neoliberalism to the Human Development Approach
The World Bank’s transition from SAPs to PRSPs occurred during a shift in the wider development discourse during the 1990’s. Neoliberalism was losing support as new development approaches were on the rise, focusing on social concerns, poverty, inequality, gender, and basic rights. These new approaches were partially owing ...
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...r were always or even majorly successful in their policy outcomes. There is a wide range of evidence showing how PRSPs did not lead to the empowerment of women or do an ideal job of including the general population in the initial drafting of the PRSPs. However, changes in the initial approach to concessional lending did occur within the World Bank as it shifted from SAPs to PRSPs by allowing mainstream development discourse of the 1990’s to help influence its development approach. Neoliberalist strategies did not fall to the wayside, and are still found in many PRSPs though not in the place of such obvious dominance as it once was with the SAPs. Instead, neoliberalism is now one of several development theories and discourses that helps construct the PRSPs, sitting alongside the Rights-Based Approach, Feminist theory, and an overall emphasis on poverty reduction.
Works Cited: Ferguson, James. (1990) The Anti-politics Machine: ‘Development’, Depoliticisation, and Bureaucratic Power in Lesotho, Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Cambridge. University Press McMichael, Philip. The. (2000) “Development and social change: a global perspective.”
In an article entitled “Resisting and reshaping destructive development: social movements and globalizing networks”, P. Routledge describes neoliberal development, “Contemporary economic development is guided by the economic principles of neoliberalism and popularly termed ‘globalization’. The fundamental principal of this doctrine is ‘economic liberty’ for the powerful, that is that an economy must be free from the social and political ‘impediments,’ ‘fetters’, and ‘restrictions’ placed upon it by states trying to regulate in the name of the public interest. These ‘impediments’ - which include national economic regulations, social programs, and class compromises (i.e. national bargaining agreements between employers and trade unions, assuming these are allowed) - are considered barriers to the free flow of trade and capital, and the freedom of transnational corporations to exploit labor and the environment in their best interests. Hence, the doctrine argues that national economies should be deregulated (e.g. through the privatization of state enterprises) in order to promote the allocation of resources by “the market” which, in practice, means by the most powerful.” (Routledge)
Poverty in Developing and Less Developed Countries The world includes less developed countries and developing countries. Less developed countries are countries considered to be poor and often contain many people who are in absolute poverty. Developing countries are countries like India, which are gaining in wealth. There are two types of poverty within the world.
In the report A New Form of Social Dislocation in the Inner-City Ghetto, William Julius Wilson analyzes three research studies conducted in Chicago between 1986 and 1993. In these studies, Wilson identifies a new type of poverty, which he coins jobless poverty. Jobless poverty represents the growing number communities that are compromised of a high percentage of unemployed individuals. These communities have the same recurrent themes of isolation in inner-city ghettos where the surrounding area is abandon, desolate or deserted of economic opportunities and community benefits. In contrast to living in employed poverty or unemployed poverty in neighborhoods of high employment, jobless poverty causes negative effects that lead to individuals and their families becoming stuck in a continuous cycle of jobless poverty. As a result of these negative effects, it is important to consider policy solutions that would address this growing problem and provide opportunities for individuals to escape the cycle of jobless poverty. The most affective solutions to jobless poverty are more mixed-use developments and a larger public transportation networks.
Makwana, R. (2006). Globalization: neoliberalism and economic globalization. Retrieved April 05, 2014, from Share The World’s Resources website: http://www.stwr.org/globalization/neoliberalism-and-economic-globalization.html
In the face of media campaigns and political sanctions, the question about whether we owe the global poor assistance and rectification is an appropriate one. Despite television advertisements displaying the condition of the poor and news articles explaining it, the reality is the majority of us, especially in the Western world, are far removed from the poverty that still affects a lot of lives. The debate between Thomas Pogge and Mathias Risse regarding our obligation to the poor questions the very institution we live in. Pogge created a new framework in which the debate developed. He introduced a focus on the design of the institutional global order, and the role it plays in inflicting or at least continuing the severe poverty people are exposed to. Whilst both Mathias Risse and Thomas Pogge believe that the “global order is imperfectly developed. It needs reform rather than revolutionary overthrow”, they differ on whether or not it is just and entitles the global poor to assistance. Pogge believes that the global order is unjust as it “helps to perpetuate extreme poverty, violating our negative duty not to harm others unduly”. Risse believes that the institution is only incompletely just and can be credited to improving lives of the global poor. According to him, these improvements contribute to its justifiability and negate any further obligation we have to the poor. Through assessing their debate, it seems that one’s obligation to the poor depends on one’s conception of duty, their unit of analysis, and whether improvement rectifies injustice. On balance, it seems that we do indeed owe the poor, only we may lack the means to settle it.
...y agendas in that they attempt to help countries in need and promote economic stability and development. However, their one size fits all policies can sometimes harm the countries they are trying to help, especially for developing countries. Their neoliberal policies often create problems in the soft sectors including education, health, and housing. This problem could be credited to the institutions, especially the IMF, which are largely comprised of macro-economists who specialize in short-term macro-economic stabilization, when developing countries need fundamental reform for the long term (Murtaza 2). These institutions should also take into account the unique circumstances of each individual country they work with in order to create policies that cater to the specific interests of each country and prevent as many negative consequences for the people as possible.
Smith, R.K. (1996). Understanding third world politics: theories of political change and development. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Randall Vicky and Burnell, Peter. Politics in the developing world. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2008. Print.
McMichael, Philip, ed 2012. Development and Social Change: A Global Perspective, 5th ed. London: Sage Publications, Inc.
Project Proposal on Poverty Reduction "Poverty reduction through pro-active, participatory, income- generating involvement of Rural youth in goat rearing" 1. Name of the project: Income generation through goat rearing. 2. Implementing organisation: Lemon grass 3.
Development originated in the colonial era, when Europeans constructed domestic and imperial government systems and concentrated within the emerging national states as industrial system fueled by the products of colonial labor regimes (McMichael, p. 2). In the 19th century, development was understood philosophically as the improvement of humankind. European political elites interpreted development practically, as a way to socially engineer emerging national societies (McMichael, p. 3). In the post WWII, United State was concerned how to shape the future of the newly independent states in ways that would ensure that they would not be drawn into the communist Soviet bloc. Motivated by this concern, the United States enlisted its social scientists
Poverty is a major problem in the United States today. Social, economical, political, and cultural factors all contribute to poverty. Education and economic development are two major issues that will help prevent poverty. The United States Census Bureau defines poverty as an "economic condition in which people lack sufficient income to obtain basic needs for food, housing, clothing, health services and education." In other words, poverty is powerlessness, a lack of representation and freedom. Poverty is an issue that the world faces everyday.
As developed countries quench their thirsts for petrol, developing countries around the world are left behind, force to watch on without any help from the outside community. Being poor means to be disadvantaged in every single way. It means not being able to support yourself or your family or have the basic necessity to life. Without substantial help for these helpless people then we should be feeling guilty that we are living lives far better than what others are experiencing. Poverty may because by wars, disease or lack of education and infrastructure and the resulting consequences may be hunger, starvation, crime and ultimately death. If poverty is not eradicated then injustice will continue, increasing death tolls and lives.
Causes and Solutions of World Poverty Poverty is prevalent throughout the world around us. We watch television and see famous people begging us to sponsor a child for only ten dollars a month. We think in our own minds that ten dollars is only pocket change, but to those children and their families, that ten dollars is a large portion of their annual income. We see images of starving children in far away countries, and our hearts go out to them. But we really do not know the implications of poverty, why it exists, or even what we can do to help combat this giant problem in our world.