The dynamics of poverty production: A political economy perspective for the SDGs era

Abstract

Understanding the social dynamics of poverty requires the identification of the systemic forces that feed and condition the production and reproduction of poverty.The inter- action of agents operating within diverse types of structures is relevant for explaining the persistence of poverty in a world where there are enough resources to eliminate it, at least in its most extreme forms.This issue is particularly relevant today due to the prom- inent place poverty reduction (if not eradication) has in the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development (UN, 2015).It has been argued that development cannot be understood in a mechanical way using linear analysis of structure and agency (Munck, 2018: 1). I am conscious that both struc- ture and agency-based models typically involve large numbers of interactions and com- plexities due to the multidimensionality involved in the production and reproduction of wicked social problems like poverty. However, the level of abstraction involved in struc- tural approaches allows for a simplification that is useful not only for the understanding but also for the eventual solution of such problems.The examination of agents and agencies ́ use of opportunities and relative power would allow us to overcome most of the common problems coming from linear and mechanical analysis referred to by Munck and others.The significance of the issue highlighted in the first paragraph is apparent at a time when the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development is being implemented globally, its deadline is approaching, and the current COVID-19 pandemic has worsened socio-economic conditions and indicators for sustainable development worldwide. Sound political choices are required to achieve the objectives of Agenda 2030 and particularly to end poverty and hunger while pursuing an integral and indivisible set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 targets.To make political choices based on a theory explaining the sources of the persistence of problems like poverty is arguably more effective than the alternative. For this reason, I try to synthesise a theoretical framework aimed at explaining the structural conflict between market and states forces that conditions the efficacy of the ‘leave no one behind’ policy.This structural conflict, which can be traced out at both national and international levels, is at the core of the political economy of poverty production and reproduction.A theoretical model showing the relationship between states and markets can be used to clearly indicate where there is potential to change poverty dynamics. I will argue that historical forms of the state can be seen as part of the problem, but also as part of the solution to poverty within the sustainable development set of challenges posed by the 2030 Agenda.