Reframing the Framework of the Eradication of Global Poverty
St. Claire’s paper entitled “Global Poverty: Development Ethics Meets Global Justice” claims that in the current development framework which is the neoliberal globalization, it is only the global elite who are benefitting from it. The writer mentioned that the free trade has pushed the rural poor in desolation because of the dominance of the agriculture business where the big agrochemical businesses lord. The free trade also killed most of the local business as the products of mass production reigns in every market all over the world. The paper mentioned that the current indicators of global poverty tend to water down what poverty means to the grassroots. They measured poverty by how much deprivation a person feels in terms of money instead of confronting the structural problems that leads to dire inequality. Moreover, it asserts that the methods by which international financial institutions like the World Bank are using in addressing global poverty tend to put the burden to few institutions to eradicate poverty among the poorest of the poor who are left behind the fast pace globalization. Because their solutions to eradicate global poverty is to empower the communities through livelihood projects, financial institutions pour aid to the developing countries and put the burden to the local implementers who most of the time are not knowledgeable of the global context of poverty. St. Claire asserts that the widening gap between the few rich and the majority poor can be bridged by reframing the development framework. The framework it said shall incorporate ethical and just principles that prioritize decapitating unjust policies in trade and not the interests of big businesses.
St. Claire did a great job in explaining the global context of poverty. It has a bull’s eye presentation of what neoliberal globalization is and who benefits more on it. The writer also explained well on how activists, researchers, development agencies and the communities from the grassroots to the international arena can work together to redefine the indicators and structural solutions to dire poverty and radical inequality. However, it could be better if St. Claire gave examples of what she envisions as global justice. She is good at writing down the theoretical analysis of current development system but it did not give any tangible examples to facilitate more understanding.
On the other hand, St. Claire fused together many theories of social development in a way that it confuses the readers. She made listing of international think tanks of development theories and global justice but it did not help the paper to be understood well. The presentation of her arguments could have been better if she only cited two to three theories and localize it with experiences around the world which are available in the knowledge banks.
The most insightful idea that I encountered from the paper is the role of financial institutions in eradicating the global poverty through aid. I learned that aids given by World Bank for example are not free. It dawned on me that aids are only dole-out solutions to the desolate situation of the global poor and financial institutions are gaining more profits from it through tax holidays and very low wages of workers of their major businesses to the countries receiving aids. My question is, who is developing who in this development framework?
