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Ethical Issues in Poverty Alleviation pp 93–112Cite as

Is Globalizing ‘development’ Ethical? A View from the Pacific

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Part of the book series: Studies in Global Justice ((JUST,volume 14))

Abstract

As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) drew to a close in 2015, it was apparent that Small Island Development States (SIDS) did not fare well in achieving their goals for eradicating poverty. This chapter investigates development progress in the Pacific, providing a case study from Papua New Guinea (PNG) focused on the experience of poverty alleviation under the MDG framework. It points to an ethical conundrum for the international community whereby the ‘development’ process displaces and sometimes destroys existing social economies; yet, traditional systems for social and economic provisioning often constitute a necessary safety net for the poor in developing economy contexts. The Pacific SIDS development experience with foreign aid and volatile markets in international trade is one that threatens culturally specific means for socio-economic reproduction. The chapter therefore directs attention to the complex forms of livelihood that might form part of a creative and just approach to development and poverty alleviation. Further, it suggests hybrid institutional forms can maintain the integrity of culture in development rather than sacrificing it to the one-size-fits-all globalizing construct that characterized the MDGs and which continues in the newly sanctioned Sustainable Development Goal framework.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    That is, production for needs (use value) rather than production for the market (exchange value).

  2. 2.

    A set of prescriptions for addressing crises in developing economies which was jointly promoted by the Washington based US treasury, the World Bank and the IMF.

  3. 3.

    The international poverty line for ‘extreme poverty’ of living on less than US$1/day.

  4. 4.

    The eight goals in the MDGs addressed income poverty and hunger (MDG1), education (MDG2), gender equality (MDG3), child mortality (MDG4), maternal health (MDG5), diseases (MDG6), environmental sustainability (MDG7) and global development cooperation (MDG8). Under the SDG framework, these have been expanded to 17 goals whereby the original MDG agenda is now extended to include aspirations for: ‘no poverty’ (SDG1); ‘zero hunger’ (SDG2); ‘good health and wellbeing’ (SDG3); ‘quality education’ (SDG4); ‘gender equality’ (SDG5); ‘clean water and sanitation’ (SDG6); ‘affordable and clean energy’ (SDG7); ‘decent work and economic growth’ (SDG8); ‘industry, innovation and infrastructure’ (SDG9); ‘reduced inequalities’ (SDG10); sustainable cities and communities’ (SDG11); ‘responsible consumption and production’ (SDG12); ‘climate change’ (SDG13); ‘life below water’ (SDG14); ‘life on land’ (SDG15); ‘peace, justice and strong institutions’ (SDG16), and; ‘partnerships for goals’ (SDG17) (see https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org).

  5. 5.

    The emphasis on ‘economic growth’ is now made explicit under the SDG framework in Goals 7 (growth) and 8 (industrialisation).

  6. 6.

    The PRSPs outline a policy framework for poverty alleviation which developing countries submit to the IMF when seeking loans.

  7. 7.

    Sachs (2005:244–45) refers to six types of capital that are lacking in conditions of extreme poverty: human capital, business capital, infrastructure, natural capital, public institutional capital and knowledge capital.

  8. 8.

    See the work of dependency theorists including the pioneering work of Andre Gunder Frank (1966) on poverty and, more recently, the ongoing tensions between North and South evident in successive UN summits for international cooperation on ‘sustainable development’ where developed economies have failed to follow through on their enabling commitments (Paton 2011:84).

  9. 9.

    ODA did, however, fall short of the MDG8 target for developed countries to commit 0.7 % GNI and flows into the region were generally considered inadequate for MDG benchmarks (ADB, UNESCAP and UNDP 2014:6,8).

  10. 10.

    In 2005 Pacific countries received $142US of aid per capita compared to $13US for Asian countries (Feeny and Clarke 2009:37).

  11. 11.

    In the Asia-Pacific Regional MDGs Report 2014/15, 19 Pacific countries were tracked across the three targets for MDG-1 (the Goal for income poverty and hunger). This should have produced 57 entries. However, only six entries are made: three for Fiji, two for PNG and one for Vanuatu (ADB, UNESCAP and UNDP 2014:2).

  12. 12.

    At independence, Australia contributed 40 % of PNG’s budget in aid (DFAT 2014:1). In the 1980s and early 1990s Official Development Assistance (ODA) represented over 10 % of PNGs Gross National Income (GNI), a figure which has decreased over time (4.5 % of GNI in 2013) (see World Bank 2015). Broadly, between 1990 and 2004 the growth of debt outstripped economic growth; this has since stabilised as a result of stronger economic growth (DNPM PNG 2010:226).

  13. 13.

    Note: today Australian aid is administered as part of the broader mandate of its Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

  14. 14.

    MDG6 targets HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other diseases and MDG7 targets environmental sustainability.

  15. 15.

    Note, the latest figure for the international poverty line for ‘extreme poverty’ (US$1/day) has not been updated since 1996 (ADB et al. 2014:65). The international poverty line itself has been revised numerous times and accordingly, concerns have been raised about its accuracy (see Robeyns 2005:33).

  16. 16.

    It was also acknowledged that PNG lacks capacity to monitor even the revised target incorporating subsistence production (DNPM PNG 2010: 42).

  17. 17.

    Instead, the concept of “poverty of opportunities” was put forward, which refers rather “to vulnerability, lack of opportunities, choices and access to services” (DNPM PNG 2010:36). According to this conception of poverty, alternative measures in and beyond the MDGs become relevant, including employment, food security and malnutrition, education and literacy and household facilities (DNPM PNG 2010:39–48). The separation of ‘hunger’ (SDG2) from ‘poverty’ (SDG1) in the SDG framework goes some way in acknowledging these sorts of concerns from SIDS like PNG.

  18. 18.

    Cooperatives are defined as “…an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise” (ICA 2007).

  19. 19.

    The DNPM PNG (2010:19) defines this as “PNGs safety net, whereby family and clan members are required to support each other”.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Economy, The University of Sydney, Merewether Building H04, Sydney, 2006, NSW, Australia

    Joy Paton

  2. Department of Sociology, The University of Sydney, Old Teachers College A22, Sydney, 2006, NSW, Australia

    Elisabeth Valiente-Riedl

Authors
  1. Joy Paton
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  2. Elisabeth Valiente-Riedl
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Correspondence to Joy Paton .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Helmut P. Gaisbauer

  2. Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Gottfried Schweiger

  3. Centre for Ethics and Poverty Research, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    Clemens Sedmak

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Paton, J., Valiente-Riedl, E. (2016). Is Globalizing ‘development’ Ethical? A View from the Pacific. In: Gaisbauer, H., Schweiger, G., Sedmak, C. (eds) Ethical Issues in Poverty Alleviation. Studies in Global Justice, vol 14. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41430-0_6

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