From poverty to power : how active citizens and effective states can change the world / Duncan Green.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Green, Duncan.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Political participation.

Government, Resistance to.

Poverty.

Equality.

Physical Description:

xvi, 522 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxfam International ; Herndon, VA : [Distributed in the USA by] Stylus Pub., 2008.

Summary:

The twenty-first century will be defined by the fight against the scourges of poverty, inequality, and the threat of environmental collapse - as the fight against slavery or for universal suffrage defined earlier eras.

From Poverty to Power argues that it requires a radical redistribution of power, opportunities, and assets to break the cycle of poverty and inequality and to give poor people power over their own destinies. The forces driving this transformation are active citizens and effective states.

Why active citizens? Because people living in poverty must have a voice in deciding their own destiny, fighting for rights and justice in their own society, and holding the state and the private sector to account.

Why effective states? Because history shows that no country has prospered without a state structure that can actively manage the development process.

There is now an added urgency beyond the moral case for tackling poverty and inequality: we need to build a secure, fair, and sustainable world before climate change makes it impossible. This book argues that leaders, organisations, and individuals need to act together, while there is still time.

Contents:

Foreword: Amartya Sen xiii

The unequal world 2

Part 2 Power and Politics 17

The political roots of development 18

I have rights, therefore I am 23

How change happens: A revolution for Bolivia's Chiquitano people 31

I believe, therefore I am 34

I read, therefore I am 40

I surf, therefore I am 52

We organise, therefore we are 58

How change happens: Winning women's rights in Morocco 67

I own, therefore I am 70

I vote, therefore I am 79

I steal, therefore I am 86

I rule, therefore I am 90

From poverty to power 104

Part 3 Poverty and Wealth 107

An economics for the twenty-first century 108

Living off the land 119

How change happens: The fishing communities of Tikamgarh 146

The changing world of work 148

Private sector, public interest 168

Going for growth 179

How change happens: Botswana and Mauritius: Two African success stories 192

Sustainable markets 195

Part 4 Risk and Vulnerability 197

Living with risk 198

Social protection 207

How change happens: India's campaign for a National Rural Employment Guarantee 217

Finance and vulnerability 220

Hunger and famine 224

HIV, AIDS, and other health risks 231

How change happens: South Africa's Treatment Action Campaign 242

The risk of natural disaster 245

Climate change 257

Living on the edge: Africa's pastoralists 268

Violence and conflict 273

Shocks and change 286

Part 5 The International System 291

Who rules the world? 292

The international financial system 295

The international trading system 318

The international aid system 353

How change happens: The 2005 Gleneagles Agreements 381

The international system for humanitarian relief and peace 384

How change happens: Landmines, an arms-control success story 403

Climate change 406

Global governance in the twenty-first century 424

A new deal for a new century 428

Annex How Change Happens 431.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 472-496) and index.

ISBN:

9780855985936

0855985933

OCLC:

184829566