Multilateral Institutions and the Poverty Debate
Towards a Global Third Way
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5881832 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jean-Philippe Thérien (Université de Montréal), Jean‐philippe Thérien (0000-0001-9222-5634, Université de Montréal, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2002 |
| Volume | 57 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 233 |
| Publication date | 2002-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | International Journal Canada s Journal of Global Policy Analysis (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0020-7020 • E-ISSN: 2052-465X |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2307/40203660 |
| OpenAlex | W4233102635 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 8 |
Professor, Department of Political Science, Universite de Montreal. This article is dedicated to Cranford Pratt whose scholarship and activism have helped the author to understand the role of the notions of Left and Right in the study of international politics. Thanks to Clement Adibe, Margaret Karns, and Alain Noel for helpful comments on an earlier draft; to Stephane Lutard, Myriam Roberge, and Vincent Pouliot for their research assistance; and to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for a research grant.POVERTY HAS OCCUPIED AN INCREASINGLY IMPORTANT place on the agenda of multilateral institutions over the past few years. Significantly, the historic declaration adopted at the United Nations Millennium summit in September 2000 emphasized the need 'to create an environment - at the national and global levels alike - which is conducive to development and the elimination of poverty.'(1) This new concern for the poor was heightened by the failure of the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle in 1999, which clearly showed that the neglect of poverty and mal-development by the international community could have unexpected social consequences. As a cross-sectoral issue linked to trade, finance, labour, the environment, health, children, and human rights, poverty alleviation is gradually becoming a mantra in multilateral diplomacy. Whereas in the 1960s Pope Paul VI could declare that development was the new name for peace, by the beginning of the 21st century, poverty reduction had apparently become the new name for development.This article examines the changing discourse of multilateral institutions with regard to poverty. While the focus is on recent years, the analysis is based on a historical perspective that looks back to the early 1960s. This perspective will prove useful for a better understanding of the elements of continuity and change that mark the present period. More specifically, thinking historically will help clarify how the current poverty debate is connected to older debates about global inequality and North-South relations. At the theoretical level, the article is informed by constructivism, an approach to social processes that stresses the role of ideas in shaping actors' interests and behaviour. The following analysis is constructivist in that it seeks to identify and describe the rival 'collective images' that structure the global poverty debate.(2)International organizations are compelling objects of investigation for any student of world politics who takes ideas seriously. Through their functions of socialization, legitimization, and information gathering, international organizations actively participate in the formation of worldviews and in the development of intellectual trends. The ideological power of multilateral institutions is particularly visible in the poverty debate because, as Peter Townsend recalls, poverty has always been a priority for the United Nations and its agencies.(3) The main theoretical difficulty facing this study is not, however, to establish that international organizations are appropriate sites from which to examine the evolution of discussions on poverty. The problem consists, rather, in finding a conceptual roadmap that will make the poverty debate easier to comprehend in a holistic fashion.The roadmap proposed here highlights the significance of the political divide between Left and Right. The history of ideas on poverty, inequality, and development articulated by international organizations will thus be read as the history of a permanent dialogue between proponents of the Left and those of the Right. At first glance, this interpretation may appear curious, if not overly simplistic, because Left and Right are notions little used in international relations. In comparative politics, in political philosophy, and in sociology, however, the Left-Right opposition has long been recognized as a meaningful distinction
Development economics · Economic system · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Poverty · Sociology · International Development and Aid · Law
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| Unique citing works | 6 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,4 |
| Citation span | 2006 - 2016 (11) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 8 |