the implementation ofpoverty reduction policies?Poverty is a universal term and poverty elimination is a universal motto. Poverty destroys individuals, societies and nations. Poverty is hunger.
Poverty is lack of shelter. It is the state of being sick but unable to seea doctor (Gordon et al. , 2003). It is the condition which doesn’t allow oneto have basic necessities in life. Poverty is the condition of not having ajob and no resources to live with. It brings fear of future.
It is thesynonym of powerlessness, lack of representation and freedom (Gordon etal. , 2000). Poverty can retard the overall growth of a society. It cannegatively affect the progress of the nation itself. “Poverty is producedby circumstances, not individuals,” (Fincher ; Wulff, 1998).
Economiccrisis increases the so-called ‘poverty sector’, leading to joblessness andsocial unrest. A proper planning and a better utilization of the availableresources of the nation will lessen the poverty level to a great extent(Narayan ; Parker, 2000). Diverting the existingresourcetothedisadvantaged people is the need of the hour. Every nation needs a propergoverning authority to plan, accomplish and accelerate its growth. Indeveloping countries especially, governments and political parties lead theshow and try to bring progress to the society and stability to the economyby eliminating the curses like poverty. The ruling party and otherpolitical parties try to uplift the general status of the society and godeep into the problems and grievances of the people to a certain extent.
Even though they do have opinion disputes and conflicts among them, theycontribute a lot for the progress of the society and nation (especiallyrural areas where poverty is still a problem) (Pantazis, Gordon ; Levitas,2006). Political interests and competitions play a major role in eliminatingpoverty from the nations. In the third world countriesespecially,political parties contribute a lot for the development works. Politicalparties try to perform well during their ruling tenure and take variousactions for the negatively privileged sections of the society. They try tolook into the agonies of the people of ill developed areas since such areashave the majority of the population in it. These less developed areas wouldbe eagerly looking forward for a government which can help them to improvetheir total grade.
No political party can ever think of getting rule intheir hand without the votes of these majority weaker sections. So thesethickly populated less developed areas are very important as far aspolitical parties are concerned. They try to give alluring promises intheir election campaign so that they can drain the votes of these areas. Filling the manifesto with various poverty reductionpolicieswilldefinitely help the political parties to get the ballot in their favour. Poverty reduction will be the proclaimed motto of political parties of lessdeveloped countries.
When they come into rule, these parties try toimplement their poverty reduction policies to a certain extent at least. Political parties are very well aware of the fact that unless they botherabout the poverty-stricken areas, nation will not see any progress ingeneral and also they will not get the following election in their favour. Increasing number of political parties has thus favoured the development ofnations in many ways. Progress of the nation is the declared motto ofpolitics though we should doubt how far it is true in the cases of certaincountries that have a corrupted political atmosphere. Interest groups play a major role in the flow of democracy, especially indeveloping countries. Numerous interest groups exist in countries wherethere are more issues and problems.
A political interest group can be agroup, who tries to influence the government in order to get their interestabout the society done. These political parties, especially the mainopposition parties can fight to get their demands met by the government. Incertain cases opposition parties perform extremely well and they dorepresent the weaker sections. They can point out the flaws and weaknessesof the ruling party and can help them improve their rule. These competingpolitical forces are of different nature. They vary in their size,ideology, policy focus, influential capability, and mode of representation.
For example, some groups may focus on certain issues or geographical areasand some may be interested in certain special topics. Also there arecertain political groups who work on broader areas of public policy. Certain interest groups focus on government alone to get their demands donewhereas some groups try to influence non-governmental and other privateorganizations and associations to uphold their objectives. The politicalparty which is in power (the representative government) is supposed toencourage the interests of other competing groups also. They will considerthe opposition’s opinion regarding major issues and will take decisionsaccordingly.
The competing groups help to establishabalancebyintroducing arguments and resources to bear on various aspects of publicpolicy decisions. They will equip themselves with power and influence andhave a support from the public such that they can suppress any majority orminority group of vested interest who become strong enough to weaken therights of others. Political groups compete on the playing field created bythe constitutions (national as well as state) and laws. They develop theirown policies and rules based on the constitution and will represent peoplefor the progress of the nation. In short, these multiple competing groupstry to create a stable political environment that allows the interests ofthe common people to be presented before the government. In Calhoun and John McGowan (1997), the author asks, “Is politics reallynothing more than power relations, competing interests and claims forrecognition, conflicting assertions of ‘simple’ truths?.
” But the politicalgroups of certain countries have proved that they do offer their best forthe development works of their nations. Political parties come out withvarious policies and plans that would eradicate poverty, according to theirclaims. They try to convince people that they are able to meet theirdemands and would repair their impoverished civic and private life. Eventhough it is true that ideology has waned and identity and interest basedpolitics have come to the scene, political parties still try to improve thepoverty-stricken state of the disadvantaged strata of the society. New newpolitical parties appear into the political scene daily and they also comeup with new promises so that people make their choice on their favour.
These political parties are very well aware about the fact that unless theyimplement their poverty reduction policies, they will no longer get favourin the following election. In less developedcountriesespecially,political parties have started attending the worries of poverty-strickenareas. In another words, in certain poor nations, political groups competeamong themselves in providing best policies for people so that they gainthe favour of the poor majority who look forward for a better governmentthat can eradicate poverty from the society (Lustig, 2000). In other words,the competition between the political parties have become a boon for peoplewho expect nothing but a better government that can implement developmentalpolicies for the improvement of the unprivileged people.
Poverty reduction is the most required development activity of third worldcountries, and the opportunity is beckoning the political parties toformulate their strategy in such a way that they have some edge over theircompetitor parties (McNair, 2003). Less developed nations that are undereconomic stagnation will only look for a government that can improve thestate of people and society. Proper functioning of democracy will imposesome responsibilities and obligations upon the ruling party as well. Poverty reduction thus became the first and foremost objective of politicalparties and their commitment has improved the state of people to a certainextent. Poverty reduction policies will be given chief priority in thebudgets also.
Political parties during the election campaignsofferguarantee of food sufficiency and substantial buffer stock that can greatlyplease the people of poverty-stricken areas. Ruling party will be alwayscautious that they satisfy the needs of backward groups who have scarcityproblems, lest they may loose the support of people. Opposition to theruling parties always try to devalue the policies and budgets of the rulingparty and will try to convince people that poverty reduction strategy ofthe ruling party is a failure (Wildavsky, 1986). They will try to get thesupport of the group who were not much privileged and will lead the showagainst the ruling party. As a result, there will be dissatisfaction andfrustration among the people against the ruling party. In this situation,the opposition party will take undue advantage of their rights to opposethe party in power and will start provoking the different sections of thesociety against the government.
They will synthesize new policies that maycover more poverty reduction ideologies and will include them in theirmanifesto so that the majority will make their choice in their favour. Thisgame will improve the poverty affected state of vulnerable sections of thesociety since they get help from political parties. We can see certainprovincescompletelyfreefrompovertyanddeficiencyastherepresentatives of the states take great care of the province. They mayalways have strong opposition from different parties and therefore have toperform well during their tenure to reserve a seat in the followingelection. In some countries the ruling party will never get a secondconsecutive chance to come to power since there is strong opposition whooffer better development policies.
The attitude of the political parties ofa nation will be reflected in the rate of poverty and the amount of itseconomic growth. In developing countries there will be grave unemploymentproblem which can be a reason for the poverty and negative growth of theeconomy. In such countries, political parties will plan to create moreemploymentopportunities(througheducationalandtechnologicaladvancements) so that they can impress people. This competing mood ofpolitical partieswillcontributeingeneratingmoreemploymentopportunities which will ultimately wipe out poverty and frustration fromthe land (Keating & Hertzman, 2000). Similarly diverting the resources ofthe nation to the needy people in the appropriate time will reduce thepoverty rate of the people.
In nations where there is a decentralizedadministration, respective subordinategovernmentshavetoacquireresources from the central government to use in their provinces (e. g. India, where there are central and state governments). Political partiesplay a significant role in these cases where states that are governed bybetter group will be completely free from poverty and economic stagnation.
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