An Introduction to International Relations

Introduction

This chapter examines the politics of global poverty, inequality and development. The first section provides the background for our analysis of global poverty and inequality. Any meaningful discussion of poverty and inequality necessarily has to be in relation to development – which, as we show, is itself contested in theory and practice (McMichael 2010). The second section provides a basic outline of a relational perspective of global development. The final section focuses on the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) initiative and the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We conclude with some critical observations about the relationship between development, poverty and inequality.

Global poverty and inequality in development

Concerns about global poverty have been high on the agenda in world politics at least since the start of the new millennium. For example, the MDG initiative was conceived as part of the United Nations Millennium Declaration (2000), and followed by the declaration on the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (2015). This high-level focus on development and poverty is not surprising, as not only is the worldwide gap between the rich and the poor growing, but there has also been an unprecedented rise in insecurities and vulnerability in the everyday lived experiences of many people, particularly those experiencing poverty. Two highly visible issues can be drawn upon to illustrate the growth of inequality and poverty in global development. These are the growth of slum-dweller and/or squatter communities (see Cattaneo and Martinez 2014), and the rise of food insecurities for many across the globe. For example, in Planet of Slums, Mike Davis (2006) documents the rise and expansion of slum dwellings globally, and draws attention to the rapid increases in precarious living conditions in urban and peri-urban areas. The expansion of slum dwellings occurs in direct relation to development processes, including industralisation and urbanisation. In the case of food insecurities, the rise in the incidence of food riots globally since the 1980s has also been taking place in the midst of high technology-oriented, high massscale production of food for the global market (Patel 2008; Walton and Seddon 1994). Activists, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), policy-makers, politicians and scholars are all engaged in rigorous debates about the scale and character of global poverty and inequality, and have embarked on various campaigns to ‘make poverty history’.