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5 Grounds for Alliance? overlapping interests of poor and not so poor Joan M. Nelson Peter Houtzager’s introduction to this volume advocates a polity-based approach to the politics of inclusion. An important component of that approach is the complex interaction between the state and public policy, on the one hand, and the evolving capability of groups in society to develop their own identity, organize, and make political alliances. This chapter focuses on the possibilities for public policy to encourage, and to be sustained by, a speci‹c kind of pro-poor alliance, one based on shared interests between some among the poor and some slightly higher on the income ladder. The potential of such alliances may be growing in many countries, as democratization spreads and lower middle class groups become more organized and vocal. Pro-poor reformers tend to be suspicious of such alliances. Since resources are limited (the more so, the poorer the country), it makes sense to target programs tightly to those most in need. Moreover, especially in less than wealthy countries, broad-gauged programs ostensibly serving much of the population often shortchange the poor. Therefore, for the past two decades much of the international development community has strongly favored tightly targeted programs as the major direct approach to poverty reduction. This chapter argues for a reappraisal of these assumptions. More encompassing or universal programs are often easier to launch and sustain and may attract more generous local funding. Under such circumstances, pro-poor reformers should consider a wider menu of options, including augmenting and modifying the design of broad programs or embedding targeted components in them rather than thinking largely or solely in terms of tightly targeted but more vulnerable approaches. The argument rests on two sets of propositions. The ‹rst set is political and concerns the relative political in›uence of poor versus middle 119 strata and the politics of tightly targeted versus broader economic and social programs. The second set concerns the degree to which the poor share needs and interests with the not so poor. The ‹rst and second sections of this chapter discuss these issues in turn. The third section brie›y explores the relevance of alliances between the poor and the middle strata for different kinds of policies and programs. A major caveat should be stated at the outset. The terms poor and middle strata are used in this discussion as shorthand. As the next section discusses, using income statistics to de‹ne both categories is arbitrary. The boundary between the categories is arti‹cial, and there is a great deal of movement across that line and indeed among all income groups. Moreover, the political logic of the chapter rests on assumed correlations between relative and absolute income, on the one hand, and social and political relations, attitudes, and behavior on the other. But both lowincome and slightly better off strata are highly heterogeneous in most countries. Broad qualitative generalizations are risky. Despite these caveats, the chapter points to patterns that can be observed in many countries, with important implications for the politics of poverty-reduction efforts. THE POLITICAL LOGIC OF ALLIANCES BETWEEN POOR AND MIDDLE STRATA definitions and concepts The concepts of “poor” and “middle” strata are central to this discussion . But they are dif‹cult concepts to pin down. De‹nitions based on national of‹cial poverty lines are arbitrary. Are the poor those whose incomes are half the median income of all citizens? Three-quarters? Are they those who must spend half of their income on food? Two-thirds? Eighty percent? Because de‹nitions are arbitrary, groups designated as poor vary tremendously in living standards and social and political character , even across countries with similar per capita incomes. Moreover, the concept of the poor refers not only to degrees of material deprivation but to nonmaterial correlates such as education, social status, and dependence. Indeed, for this chapter absolute income levels are much less important than social and political characteristics that indicate how different groups relate to the larger communities and national societies in which they are embedded and their accompanying attitudes and predispositions toward political action. Despite wide variations across countries in the status and characteristics of the lowest income groups, and despite heterogeneity within any one country, there is almost always a correlation between low absolute and relative income (especially durable or long-term as distinct from transitory poverty), levels of 120 Changing Paths [18.220.66.151] Project MUSE (2024-04-26 13:58 GMT...

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