Review of Article "The Politics of Poverty Eradication" by Hakan Bjorkman...

This is an article that I read for a paper that I am working on. Here is the summary and analysis of the article as well. I encourage you to look at the article and read it yourself. It was one of the better ones this semester, well, at least it got my blood going a bit.

There are many different aspects that make up poverty. Of these, one of the most difficult to address is the politics of poverty. Because poverty also serves some of the vested interests, oppressed populations have congregated and risen up in opposition, often in violence. It seemed to me that those who had power, had it in either or both of the two following forms; power over resources and power of ideology. Most of the conflict that has arisen in pre-twentieth century has been over control over resources. Within the last century however, most of the fight has been about ideology or rights. This reminds me of the discussion that we had about human rights and the article that we read about the human development paradigm and the intrinsic value that it places on essential human rights both physically and ideologically. There are inalienable rights that people have such as education, health, and well-being. The Politics of Poverty Eradication article rounds up the many different ways that people have fought for these rights and can continue to do so in a nonviolent way. At the core of this belief is the value that us as Latter-day Saints embrace, that each of us is a son or daughter of God, or on a more secular level, that each of us has intrinsic value that is essentially no more or less than that of anybody else.
By so believing, we are tied and bound to participate in development. As we have discussed in class, development is multi-dimensional and there are many different ways that we can participate. Politics of Poverty Eradication is also multi dimensional in it’s approach, I believe, and lets us know how we can participate as individuals in whole groups to alleviate poverty. There are people that are needed in communities, whose primary role is to advocate self-help, such as has been demonstrated my the women’s movement. Another aspect that has been incredibly important is the development of NGOs and their role in pressing for reform with government agencies and local people, becoming a type of mediator between the two. Historically, trade unions have been of utmost importance to how first world countries have developed. Although trade union membership has declined significantly in first world countries, the empowerment of these unions in developing countries remains quite important. They help people come together, united in a cause to push for the general welfare. And people’s movements remain a constant force for change. Such movements, like the Green Belt movement in Kenya can be extremely effective at helping promote change from the bottom up, or as we say in class, from the top up.
At the center of all of these different movements is the principle of participatory politics and having the essential activist state. Something that I thought was quite interesting was how the author defined a disabling state as a government who is more concerned with building itself up in military and infrastructure than with the welfare of it’s social spending and people. Like more of the neoclassical approaches that we have seen during the course of the semester, the numbers might equal out but people are not numbers. A country is made of its people, not it’s buildings and weapons. Fortunately through the spread of democracy, people have more choice in what they participate in. The statistics indicated in the article show as countries shift to democratic systems, education increases followed by other important steps like women’s rights and environmental sustainability.
The most important thing that I have gathered from this article was the absolute necessity to participate in democracy and vote. The disgusting statistic from 1991 to 1994 of only 39% of eligible voters turning out was embarrassing while places like Malta, Belgium and Latvia are above 90%. As we continue to promote development worldwide, the best thing we can do is have an understanding and conviction of the importance of human rights and participating in our own governments policy making. By each individual, family and community doing their part, we can take a stand against poverty.