Chapter 22 Poverty and Development

Poverty remains one of the greatest unresolved global security challenges we face today. Despite the exponential wealth that modern capitalism has generated since its emergence in the early 19th century, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) estimates that more than 720 million people continue to live in extreme poverty. In this chapter, we reflect on the state of poverty research and identify essential future development research agendas that can help us better understand poverty and the development approaches we pursue in response to this enduring existential threat. We begin by providing a snapshot of the prevailing global condition, in which a rise in a country’s per capita income does not automatically alleviate poverty for its poorest people. We then examine the wide array of multidisciplinary research precipitated by this poverty paradox, spanning natural, structural, and cultural dimensions. Following this, we analyze some of the development programs and policies that have been adopted by international and state actors at both the multilateral and domestic levels in response to poverty. Finally, we outline three primary research areas we consider crucial for rethinking poverty and development, both ontologically and epistemologically, by adopting grassroots, humanitarian, and decolonial lenses in approaching these deeply intertwined issues.