World Poverty - Research Paper Example

s of Poverty Introduction In the perspective of some social scholars, poverty is not a spontaneous occurrence, but a structural, institutional, social, economic and individual reality that originates systematically from definite causes (Shah 61). Statistics from various global humanitarian agencies have indicated that nearly three billion humans around the globe, comprising of roughly half the world population live in poverty. Further statistics show that the manifestation of levels of poverty varies across demographic factors of age, gender, location, location, race, and other variables. In terms of age, children are more likely to suffer from the devastating effects of poverty than adults. According to recent literature on the effects of poverty across populations, one in very two children suffers from poverty (Shah 57). These statistics also show that women bear the most devastating effects of poverty in places where poverty is rampant. The difference also manifests across regions where places such as Bangladesh and Sub-Saharan Africa suffer higher rates of poverty than places in the developed parts of the world (Shah 36). Generally, rural populations have tended to suffer the effects of poverty more than the urban populations. Although this reality obtains in most parts of the world, there are exceptional cases in parts of Latin America where poverty in the urban centers tends to be higher than in the rural places. In terms of explanations, social scholars have argued that increased migrations from the rural areas to the urban areas have brought about significant pressure on the limited resources within the urban centers. Although there can be no singular course of poverty in the world, various studies have tended to agree on the fact that some fundamental challenges working as a network are significantly responsible for its occurrence and prevalence. According to some studies, the problem of poverty around the world is caused by poor government policies, which fail to prioritize the welfare of citizens on the development agenda. For instance, governments in Sub –Saharan Africa tend to spend much of their budgetary allocations on governance-related expenditure rather than on matters of infrastructural developments. Reviews of various studies on development have shown that the high rate of poverty is usually caused by infrastructure related challenges (Shah 41; Tonnemacher and Simon, 133). Poor road networks, underdeveloped communication systems, and lack of schools are some of the infrastructural challenges that impede the development of African economies. Some scholars have argued that matters of governance and education also contribute significantly to high levels of poverty around the world. Comparative analyses on the relationship between the types of governance and development have shown that democratic governments are more likely to combat the challenge of poverty than undemocratic ones. In a functional democracy, the citizens are able to demand accountability on government processes and determine the kind of development priorities to be embraced by the government. In this manner, the citizens will often make the government to adopt the kind of policies that are appropriate in resolving poverty-related concerns. The challenge lies in the fact that many governments in Sub-Saharan Africa have failed to embrace the appropriate structures that would encourage the flourishing of democratic processes. As such, they are regarded as dysfunctional in the sense that they cannot deliver the kind of synergies required to engage in poverty reduction strategies. Intervention measures have been met with structural resistance from systems that are anchored on undemocratic processes or dysfunctional democracies. Lack of Education Lack of education is one of the major causes of poverty in the world. In the opinion of sociology experts societies that invest in education systems are more likely to meet the challenges of education that those that show low enthusiasm on formal education. Education is an empowering tool both at the individual and societal levels. It bequeaths individuals with the necessary tools and skills to interact productively with the environment for subsistence (Tonnemacher and Duhren 67). Educated societies develop strategies and systems that shield them from the perils of poverty. They are able to develop sound priorities with regard to matters of economic development and other issues that are required for the general development of their subjects. An illustration of the association that exists between education and the society is to be found in the manner in which developed societies record lower levels of poverty as compared to the developing world. The United States, Western Europe, and China are some of the wealthiest parts of the world. This reality corresponds to the fact that the same regions have posted significantly high reductions of the levels of education among their subjects. Without education, societies continue to rely on outmoded ways of production, which are fraught with significant challenges of efficiency. For instance, although large parts of Sub-Saharan Africa have fertile lands that are conducive for productive agriculture, they continue to experience hunger and general poverty because of reliance on past methods of farming, which cannot produce sufficient food to feed their communities. It might be argued that low levels of education on modern and mechanized farming methods are to blame for the diminishing food supplies. Over-reliance on rain-fed agriculture has caused significant challenges of food security in large parts of the developing world. Other studies have also blamed low levels of education on the lack of investment initiative in the poverty-stricken regions of the world (Tonnemacher and Simon 236). Precisely, these studies have pointed out that there exists some significant mismatch between the system of education in the poor parts of the globe and the actual needs on the ground. Unlike the west where education systems are aligned with the need to develop the skills of individuals in specific areas, the education systems in some of the most impoverished parts of the world are structured in general ways that do not match the individual and social needs. In this sense, the education systems need to be reorganized in ways that would provide synergies into various processes that might be relied upon to enhance the systems of production. This must necessarily involve the development of results oriented systems that would fit into the development needs of the poor societies. Cultural Obstacles Cultural obstacles have been mentioned severally and variously by poverty analysts as major contributors to the rising cases of poverty. Cultural obstacles manifest themselves in terms of the different ways in which the actions, assumptions, traditions, mores, and values of a given culture oppose the necessary initiatives to reduce poverty. In some of the most poverty-stricken parts of the world cultural practices such as wife inheritance, polygamy, and the nurturing of large families have resulted in significant pressure on various resources (Gosselin 79). For instance, such practices lead to pressure on the land resource, which eventually impacts adversely on food production. Naturally, such practices operating within families as the basic units of societies and communities would lead to an increase in population pressure. Other cultural practices that discriminate along the lines of gender have equally been blamed for the high rates of poverty in many parts of the world. The gender discourse is particularly problematic in many parts of Africa, Asia and other parts of the world that have grappled with the challenge of poverty reduction. The systematic disempowering of the female gender through cultural assumptions has lowered the productive potential of many societies. By creating hierarchies in which women are placed significantly lower on the ladder of importance than their male counterparts, the system deliberately holds them back from engaging in many productive engagements. Their roles are defined by their presumed inferiority. They are barred from participating in discourses of political, economic, and social power. Usually, the domestic space becomes the only place where they may spend their energies. As a result, the societies lose out on the great potentials, skills and talents that might have been resourceful in reducing the levels of poverty. Some research findings conducted on the role of women in community development have shown that women can play significant roles in reducing poverty and engaging in other forms of social development. Cases have been cited where the leadership of women has resulted in significant gains on the political, economic, and social fronts in some of the poverty-challenged regions (Gosselin 63). One of the reasons cited is that the participation of women in meaningful discourses would entail their desire to reverse the challenge of poverty since they are the worst hit by the resultant impacts. Normally, a given culture will determine the manner in which its subjects will perceive the world around them. The perceptions form limited and constricted worldviews, which prevent individuals from engaging or interacting with systems, which lie beyond the boundaries of their cultural worldviews. In the usual sense the development of cultural world views has often been regarded as one of the fundamental aspects of reality that affect the degree to which individuals may engage, either productively or unproductively, with the world around them. Wars and Conflicts Wars and conflicts have resulted in devastating impacts on general development around the world (Gosselin 44). Logically, economic systems cannot thrive in politically unstable regions. Situations of war and conflicts have resulted in dysfunctional economic systems. Conflicts in the Middle East, the Arab World, Asia, and many parts of Africa have been blamed for the rising cased of poverty around the world. Economic recessions have often been felt in the aftermath of major cases of violence. Since independence, many countries in the developing world have engaged in various forms of wars and conflicts leading to unstable situations that are not conducive for poverty-reduction processes. Some of these wars have involved one country against another on matters of resource distribution and boundary disagreements. Others have involved internal disputes that result is skirmishes and genocide. The Darfur crisis, the Rwandan Massacre, the post-election violence in Kenya, the Siege of Sarajevo, and other such conflicts such as coups and insurrections have led to significant decline of economic systems, which have plunged the affected communities into high levels of poverty. Resolving these conflicts would require the participation of global citizenry and the international community. Reports from humanitarian organizations concerned with peace-building missions in the restive parts of the world have indicated that the return of peace in some regions often precedes the revamping of economic systems. Unfair Practices by Multinationals and Wealthy Countries In the wake of the discourses of globalization and liberalization of the global economy, wealthy countries have imposed certain conditions on the developing world, which have trapped the developing world debts and other financial conditions that make it difficult for the affected countries to grow economically. Conditions attached on grants make it impossible for the poor countries to engage in flexible ventures that might be able to redeem their populations from dire poverty. For instance, the dependency of the loans from the wealthy countries has adversely affected the priorities of the recurrent expenditures of the developing countries. It becomes nearly impossible for the poor countries to initiate people-centred developments since their financial systems are manipulated by the rich countries. It is because of this reason that many countries in Africa have failed to extricate themselves from years of perennial poverty since they gained independence. Unfair trading practices have also increased the levels of poverty in weaker countries. In the complex world of multinational commerce, business interests are often structured in such a way that would tilt the scales in favor of the richer countries (Andersen and Howard 82). Sometimes, richer governments arm-twist the weaker regimes to engage in business with the multinational organizations in order to gain control of both the economic and political systems of the weaker countries. Economists and sociologists have often perceived this tendency in terms of the struggle for power by the dominant world powers. Such discourses have often been analyzed in relation to post-cold war matters. It might be necessary to perceive these matters in terms of the different issues that relate to the competition of the emerging trading zones in the developing world. The intended or unintended consequence of this power struggle has been the impoverishing of the weaker nations. Scholarly opinions continue to converge on the observation that the emergence of the discourses of globalization and liberalization has given the western world a fresh opportunity to impose their power over the developing world (Andersen and Howard 231). Necessarily, the development of the flourishing of the western economies must depend, to a significant degree, on the weakening of the developing world. Critics of economic stimulus plans and trading partnerships developed by the richer countries for the consumption of the weaker ones have argued that they are largely crafted on rhetoric and short-term goals rather than on strategic issues and policies that would guarantee sustainable development of the poor countries. The flawed structures, and mechanics of these economic relationships, according to critics, are responsible for the prevailing rates of poverty that continue to affect half of the world population. Conclusion Causes of poverty around the globe are multiple and require comprehensive, systematic, and goal-oriented strategies to resolve. The present situation shows that these courses are traceable in nearly all the discourses of human concern. They entail cultural factors, matters of governance, and individual limitations. Others include poor interventionist policies from the donor community, unfair practices by multinationals and wealthy countries, low levels of education, environmental factors and other causes affect the general welfare of humanity. These issues must be considered both in light of their historical origin and in light of structural systems on which they are anchored. Addressing the challenge of global poverty would entail the resolving of historical issues and the overhauling of the structural basis of poverty. Works Cited Andersen, Marageret, L., and Howard Taylor. Sociology: Understanding a Diverse Society. London: Cengage Learning, 2007 Gosselin, Abigail. Global Poverty and Individual Responsibility. New York: Lexington Books, 2009. Shah, Anup. “Causes of Poverty.” Global Issues. 08 Apr. 2012. Web. 08 Aug. 2012. http://www.globalissues.org/issue/2/causes-of-poverty. Tonnemacher, Sebastian and Simon Duhren. Poverty in Africa - Cultural Studies. New York: GRIN Verlag, 2008. Read More