This lecture focuses on issues and problems of global poverty and inequality. We discuss various perspectives and explanations on poverty and inequality. We will look at historical trends and current status of global poverty and inequality. How do we measure and compare poverty and inequality? How do we understand these measurements and comparisons? How do various theoretical perspectives (ex. Liberalism, developmentalism, historical materialism, etc.) explain the sources of poverty and inequality? We will also look at some of the approaches targeted at tackling poverty and inequality. What alternative approaches, perspectives can we have?

Teacher: Fisseha Fantahun Tefera

Lecture presentation: IR1122 Povert and Inequality lecture-1.pptx

Obligatory Reading:

Cammack, Paul. 2019. ‘Why are some people better off than others?’ (Chapter 19), in Global Politics: A New Introduction, edited by Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfus. New York: Routledge, pp: 386-407.

Pasha, Mustapha Kamal. 2019. ‘How can we end poverty?’ (Chapter 20), in Global Politics: A New Introduction, edited by Jenny Edkins and Maja Zehfus. New York: Routledge, pp: 408-429.

Suggested extra-reading:

Books

Sachs, Jeffrey (2005) The End of Poverty: How We Can Make It Happen in Our Lifetime (Foreword by Bono, London: Penguin Books).

Sen, A. (2001). Development as freedom. ([New ed.]). Oxford: Oxford University Press. New Ed. (366 pages).

Reports

UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME., 2021. HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT 2020: The Next Frontier-human Development and the Anthropocene. UN. http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr2020.pdf

UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), 2019. Human Development Report 2019: Beyond income, beyond averages, beyond today–inequalities in human development in the 21st century.http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr2019.pdf

Journal Articles

Peter Edward & Andy Sumner (2018) Global poverty and inequality: are the revised estimates open to an alternative interpretation?, Third World Quarterly,39:3, 487-509, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1401461

Anna Barford (2021) Challenging inequality in Kenya, Mexico and the UK, Third World Quarterly, 42:4, 679-698, DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2020.1826299

Jason Hickel (2017) Is global inequality getting better or worse? A critique of the World Bank’s convergence narrative, Third World Quarterly, 38:10, 2208-2222,DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2017.1333414

Video

DW Documentary, The rich, the poor and the trash (2018). Available: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_e7eFSkEjw

Netflix movie, The boy who harnessed the wind (2019). Available https://www.netflix.com/se-en/title/80200047