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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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FROM POVERTY TO POWERFROM POVERTY TO POWERDevelopment is about transforming the lives and expectations of anation’s inhabitants, an ambition that goes far beyond simply increasingmonetary income. Although the past 60 years have seen enormousprogress, huge and urgent challenges remain in tackling injustice,inequality, and needless suffering. The starting point for this effortmust be guaranteeing that all people enjoy their basic rights and theability <strong>to</strong> exercise them (capabilities). People living in poverty musttake or create power over their own lives and destinies. To develop,countries need educated, informed, and healthy citizens and a stateboth willing and able <strong>to</strong> provide the essential services on which theirwell-being depends. The state must also ensure that both the qualityand quantity of economic growth meets developmental needs.Globalisation has complex implications for the politics of buildingeffective states. Most tangible are the increasing constraints it imposeson the economic policies that states can use, which are discussed inPart 5.However, its political impact is more insidious. The most globallyintegrated segment in almost every developing country is the politicaland economic elite. People in this group consume more importedgoods, travel more widely, and read the Financial Times or the HeraldTribune. Their children absorb international culture from MTV andthe Internet, and often leave <strong>to</strong> study at European or North Americanuniversities, before returning <strong>to</strong> lead their countries. To what extent104

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