POLS 084. The Politics of Poverty Alleviation in the Developing World


How should we understand the challenge of poverty alleviation and what can be done to fight poverty in developing countries? To understand the mixed record of progress in this area, we will engage three central questions in this course: (1) What are the causes of poverty and its persistence? (2) What are the best strategies for fighting poverty? (3) How do institutions and political incentives support or undermine the success of anti-poverty policies? We will discuss how scholars across the social sciences think about poverty and what this tells us about how to address this problem. Next, we will engage debates over the best strategies for fighting poverty in countries where it is often difficult to ensure that program benefits reach the poor.  Cases will be drawn from South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America. This class will be useful to students interested in applying social science concepts to understand policy challenges in developing countries and particularly useful to those interested in careers in development.
Recommended: One social science course
Social sciences.
1 credit.
Catalog chapter: Political Science  
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/political-science


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