CURRENT DEVELOPMENT DISCOURSE on poverty reduction mainly emphasizes the respective roles of the state and the market. This book argues for the importance of exploring and understanding the actions of the poor, with special emphasis on the actions they take to improve their lot by seizing upon opportunities and not waiting for help. The authors, through region-specific case studies, show how the politicization of common space on which most low-income settlements are built can yield surprising and good results without major top-down interventions. Those concerned may seek to change their poverty directly or to effect change with respect to the formulation and implementation of public policy.

The notion of political space is critical to understanding the possibility and potential of such actions for poverty reduction. The authors develop a concept of political space which stresses institutional channels for accessing policy formulation, the content of political discourse, the degree to which it emphasizes poverty as an issue, and the skill and strategies of the poor themselves. The studies in this volume detail the complex realities of political agency of the poor, the strategic use of discourse, the limits of institutional reform, the contested nature of poverty reduction and the significance of political space for challenging conditions of marginalization. This work is actually a cataloguing of what has already been happening in certain areas of the world for a couple of decades, and will contribute to understanding on the part of a still very largely sceptical donor community.

The concept of “political space”, grounded in detailed case studies of local politics from across three continents, redirects the analysis of the politics of poverty towards three inter-related matters: the scope for effective participation of the poor in policy formation, institution building and implementation; the depiction of poverty in political discourse; and the political organization and practice of the poor being put into use for their benefit. This book explores the politics of poverty reduction from the perspective of the poor themselves rather than through the sometimes distorted lenses of development agencies, political élites and national governments, thus enabling external support to be more effectively focused and sustainably used.