Poor people everywhere are politically weak, and yet poverty in some developing countries has gone down dramatically. Why is this? Using nine country case-studies this book provides answers by examining government alliances; policies on labour, tax, and expenditure; and the role of aid donors and NGOs.

• Part 1: Analysis and policy recommendations


• 1: Introduction


• 2: A short history of 'pro-poor policy', 1970-2010


• 3: Building blocks in a poverty strategy


• 4: Political violence, state instability, and poverty


• 5: Pro-poor fiscal strategies


• 6: Institutions, state capacity, and poverty


• 7: The global politics of poverty reduction


• 8: Summary and conclusions


• Part 2: Case Studies


• 9: Argentina


• 10: Bolivia


• 11: Indonesia and Malaysia


• 12: Russia


• 13: Four African case studies: Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, and Zimbabwe

Paul Mosley holds BA and PhD degrees in economics. He has worked mostly in academia but also in government, as economic adviser to the Kenya Treasury (1969-71) and the UK Department for International Development (1979-81). He has also worked in a voluntary capacity for both development and social policy NGOs and is currently on the board of the Sheffield Credit Union. His publications include Aid and Power (2e, 1995), Finance against Poverty (1996) and Poverty and Social Exclusion in North and South (2003).