The Political Economy of Urban Poverty in Developing Countries: Theories, Issues and an Agenda for Research

The implications of urban development for overall economic prosperity are well known. Employment, housing, policing, infrastructure and social policies in cities have been shaped and institutionalized through a complex set of interactions between various urban interests, public officials and institutions. In advanced industrial countries, for example, the rise of influential coalitions with the urban working class at the centre was responsible for the proliferation of social protection in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Consequently, a great deal is known about the dynamics of urban political mobilization and behaviour in richer countries and of participation among the urban poor. In the cities in low- and middle-income nations, however, there is far less information available regarding these issues. This paper surveys some theoretical foundations for understanding the political economy of urban poverty before examining several pathologies of political life for the urban poor, including collective action and social movements, participation and representation, political machines, labour organizations and legal exclusion. It focuses on some aspects of the city dweller’s political agency – or the lack thereof – that limit the ability of the urban poor to engage in collective action, to participate in decision-making, to form effective organizations and to resist predatory behaviour by officialdom. The paper then examines some areas where further research is needed, including: the political–economic bases for mobilization; the prospects for pro-poor urban social policy; the conditions that determine the effectiveness of delegation; and membership organizations for the urban poor