GSDRC newsfeed on Social exclusion

Policies Towards Horizontal Inequalities

Frances Stewart, Graham Brown, Arnim Langer — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

What are the most effective strategies for reducing Horizontal Inequalities (HIs)? This book chapter assesses the range of policies that could alleviate the impact of political, cultural and socioeconomic HIs on conflict likelihood. While there may need to be trade-offs with other policy objectives, there is no evidence that reducing HIs needs to reduce growth.

State Growth and Social Exclusion in Tibet: The Challenges of Recent Economic Growth

Andrew Martin Fischer — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

How has economic growth and transformation in China influenced structural marginality in Tibetan areas? This book uses a macro socio-economic perspective to trace how economic growth and transformation interact with social change and population transitions in the Tibetan areas, and how these processes influence the emergence or exacerbation of structural marginality and social exclusion. It argues the most pressing economic issues facing the Tibetan regions relate to the socio-economic marginalisation of the majority of Tibetans from rapid state-led growth.

Modes of Exploitation

Charles Tilly — Thu, 01 Jan 1998 00:00:00 GMT

What are the processes of exploitation? In this book chapter, Tilly examines the South African system of apartheid and categorical inequality to identify the key elements of exploitation. Drawing from this and other historical cases, Tilly applies his model to modern society to illustrate that exploitation, while not as overt as in South Africa, still thrives, such as in gender pay inequality and minority rights imbalances. Exploitation involves the coordinated efforts of power-holders, command over deployable resources and their returns, categorical exclusion and skewed division of returns as compared with effort.

How to Hoard Opportunities

Charles Tilly — Thu, 01 Jan 1998 00:00:00 GMT

What is opportunity hoarding and how does it relate to social exclusion? In this book chapter, Tilly uses examples of chain migration to illustrate how particular groups organise to hoard opportunities, excluding others from certain occupations and business sectors. While opportunity hoarding does not necessarily result in exclusionary costs to society, it is a potential mechanism of categorical inequality. It can couple with exploitation to create damaging differentials in opportunities and rewards among groups in society.

Whose Aid? The Case of the Bolivian Elections Project

Rosalind Eyben, Rosario Leon — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

This book chapter explores the ambiguities of aid and its influence in national politics through a case study from Bolivia. The authors reflect on their involvement in a donor-funded civil society project to increase the participation of socially excluded groups in Bolivia�s 2002 national elections. This project highlighted the dilemmas of �national ownership� amidst government objections to a programme arguably seen as a threat to the power of elites. The authors suggest that aid may be understood as a gift, problematic and ambiguous in meaning, in which relations of power are imbued with moral purpose.

Inclusive Growth in Nepal

Magnus Hatlebakk — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 00:00:00 GMT

How can inclusive growth be promoted in Nepal? This paper from the Chr. Michelsen Institute examines pathways out of poverty in Nepal between 1995 and 2003 and proposes ways in which the government, non-governmental organisations and international donors can help foster future inclusive growth. Targeted education and training schemes for the poor and for excluded groups, subsidised health care and investment in infrastructure are key areas of intervention.

Gender and Social Exclusion Analysis How To Note

Department for International Development (DFID) — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How can poverty reduction interventions by donor country offices be designed to reach excluded groups? This guidance note from the UK Department for International Development suggests a structure, methodology and analytical framework for a Gender and Social Exclusion Analysis (GSEA). A GSEA identifies barriers to inclusion and entry points for change. The proposed framework focuses on the three spheres of society, market and state and the interactions between them.

The Political Economy of Public Spending on Education, Inequality and Growth

Mark Gradstein — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 GMT

This paper from the World Bank examines data on public spending on education in developing countries, revealing significant inequality in the distribution of resources between rich and poor groups. While current donor policy is to alleviate poverty through the universal provision of public services in developing countries, the evidence suggests that political dynamics within these countries often distort these goals to the disadvantage of the poor. Personal rent-seeking, in the form of political pressure from richer households, skews resource allocation, often resulting in both increased inequality and social exclusion.

Social Assistance as An Instrument of Social Inclusion: Practices and Policy Choices

CIARIS Learning and Resources Centre on Social Inclusion — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

This draft paper from the International Labour Organisation's Centre for Learning on Social Inclusion (CIARIS) outlines the growing importance of social assistance, and reviews its place within wider social protection, labour and poverty reduction strategies. Social assistance is not a panacea against social exclusion; its limitations should be recognised and addressed through links with more comprehensive social and labour market policies.

Examining Conditional Cash Transfer Programmes: A Role for Increased Social Inclusion?

Benedicte de la Briere, Laura B. Rawlings — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

Conditional Cash Transfer programmes (CCTs) provide money to poor families, contingent on specific verifiable actions such as children's school attendance or preventative health care. How successful are CCTs in addressing social inclusion and inter-generational poverty? What is their impact on social accountability relationships between beneficiaries, service providers and governments? This summary focuses on the Social Inclusion section in a World Bank paper. While CCTs hold promise, they are not a panacea against social exclusion. They should form part of comprehensive social and economic policy strategies and be applied carefully in different policy contexts.

Indigenous Inclusion/Black Exclusion: Race, Ethnicity and Multicultural Citizenship in Latin America

Juliet Hooker — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Why is the landscape of citizenship so uneven across Latin America? Latin America exhibits high degrees of racial inequality and discrimination against Afro-Latinos and indigenous populations, despite constitutional and statutory measures prohibiting racial discrimination. The multicultural reforms of the 1980s and 1990s which brought many collective rights to indigenous groups have not, however, had the same impact on Afro-Latinos. This article from the Journal of Latin American Studies examines the region's multicultural citizenship regimes, and finds an emphasis on cultural difference or ethnic identity over race which disadvantages Afro-Latinos.

Introduction: From Polycentrism to the Polity

Peter P. Houtzager — Wed, 01 Jan 2003 00:00:00 GMT

What is the nature of the new politics of inclusion? This chapter from Changing Paths: International Development and the New Politics of Inclusion challenges the perception that supporting uncoordinated and decentralised actions in civil society and the market is sufficient to produce improved governance outcomes. Greater inclusion will emerge instead from representative and deliberative institutions through which societal and state actors can negotiate collective solutions across the public-private divide.

Inequality and Human Rights: Who Controls What, When, and How

Todd Landman, Marco Larizza — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Are countries with resource distribution inequalities more likely to suffer from higher levels of human rights abuse? This article from the International Studies Quarterly analyses data from 162 countries over the period from 1980 to 2004. The results suggest that both income and land inequalities significantly contribute to human rights abuses.

Social Exclusion, Social Isolation and the Distribution of Income

Brian Barry — Thu, 01 Jan 1998 00:00:00 GMT

While social exclusion is unquestionably closely associated with poverty, is it inextricably linked? Can a community marked by significant inequalities of power and status still be socially integrated? This paper from the Centre for Analysis of Social Exclusion discusses the relationships between social exclusion, justice and solidarity, with a particular focus on class systems within the USA and Britain. Despite varying income distribution, government policies targeting inequality and favouring social solidarity can promote an integrated society.

Muslim Narratives of Schooling, Social Mobility and Cultural Difference: A Case Study in Multi-ethnic Northwest China

Lin Yi — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

What explains the persistent poor educational performance of China�s Muslim minority populations? This paper from the Japanese Journal of Political Science draws on community level interviews with Muslim communities in the Qinghai-Gansu borderland to analyse the impact of cultural exclusion on ethnic minority educational attitudes and performance. There is a tension between Muslims' desire for full social citizenship in the form of rights to employment and education and the limited social and cultural capital they possess with which to achieve these goals. The party-state needs a more coherent approach to national identity and minority rights, so as not to exacerbate existing tensions between minorities and the wider society.

Alternative Realities? Different Concepts of Poverty, their Empirical Consequences and Policy Implications

Frances Stewart, Ruhi Saith and Susana Franco — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 00:00:00 GMT

What are the implications of alternative definitions of poverty? Do different approaches identify different people as poor? This concluding chapter from the book Defining Poverty in the Developing World considers the implications of four approaches to measuring poverty - monetary, capabilities, social exclusion and participatory methods - through a theoretical review and empirical research in India and Peru. There is a lack of overlap empirically between the people identified as poor by the different approaches to poverty, and this means that policies targeted according to one type of poverty will not reach people affected by other types.

Promising Approaches to Address the Needs of Poor Female Farmers

Agnes Quisumbing and Lauren Pandolfelli — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

What are the key strategies for closing the gender gap in agricultural production? This paper from the International Food Policy Research Institute reviews attempts to increase poor female farmers� access to, and control of, productive resources in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Consideration of the literature of the past decade indicates that while promising new approaches to meeting the needs of female farmers are emerging, few have been rigorously evaluated. Future interventions need to consider, among other factors: interactions among resource inputs; the trade-offs between practical and strategic gender needs; and the culture and context specificity of gender roles.

Youth and Conflict: A Brief Review of the Available Literature

Marc Sommers — Sun, 01 Jan 2006 00:00:00 GMT

How can programmes help youth in conflict and post-conflict situations? This literature review from USAID illuminates key themes, trends and prospects for war-affected youth and the programmes that aim to assist them. While war�s effects on youth are complex, resilience is a prominent shared characteristic. Effective youth interventions require increased participation of female youth, better engagement with youth to determine and address their precise needs, quality programme evaluations and more dissemination of programme documents.

Politics of Social Exclusion, State Reform and Security in Sri Lanka

Sunil Bastian — Thu, 01 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

How can the interests of the socially excluded be better addressed through state reforms in Sri Lanka? Making use of the two dimensions of capital and coercion, this article from the Bulletin of the Institute of Development Studies analyses the processes of state reform that have ensured the social exclusion of large sections of the population and set the stage for conflict. It argues that the current orthodoxies of state reform � supported by the international community � do not address issues of social exclusion and need to be rethought in order to avert violence and ensure long-term stability and security.

Youth and Conflict: A Toolkit for Intervention

USAID — Sat, 01 Jan 2005 00:00:00 GMT

Why do young people participate in conflict? What can be done to steer young people away from violence? This toolkit from USAID examines youth participation in violent conflict and draws out lessons for development programming. It asserts that although a large proportion of young people is not necessarily destabilising, those (particularly young men) who are uprooted, intolerant, jobless and have few opportunities could represent a ready pool of recruits for ethnic, religious and political extremists. Avoiding future conflict means drawing positively on the energy and capacity of youth as the leaders of tomorrow's societies.