Critical Reflections on Development and The Governance of Poverty and Inequality

Bimbo Ogunbanjo; PhD

doi:10.56201/jpaswr.v11.no10.2026.pg132.158

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Critical Reflections on Development and The Governance of Poverty and Inequality

Bimbo Ogunbanjo, PhD

Abstract

In the latter half of the first decade of the twenty-first century, a number of crises developed that worsened the already severe conditions of global economic inequality and poverty in the world's poorest nations. The developing world's already poor populace were under more and more strain as a result of these crises. In order to safeguard the most vulnerable and impoverished people on the planet, they also emphasised shortcomings in the existing global governance frameworks. Even before these crises occurred, the number of people living in poverty was consistently high, and the gap between those who have and those who do not has grown significantly, despite the emergence over the past ten years of what seems to be a global consensus on the necessity of addressing human immiseration. Undoubtedly, the crises have made the situation of the world's poor worse, and there has been much lamentation over the ability to achieve the MDGs, especially within the UN system. The recent crises and their effects on the impoverished have also highlighted the importance of challenging the effectiveness and suitability of current global governance strategies in addressing inequality and poverty. The broad aspects of the global governance of poverty and inequality are examined in this paper. By examining how concepts of international development played a significant role in the Bretton Woods discussions, it offers a thorough explanation of how the UN system came to be concerned with raising living standards in less developed nations. The goal of this paper is to provide a response to the first of our questions by identifying the reasons why development, poverty, and inequality have become concerns for international organisations. It provides two corrections to the literature that affect how we consider the function of "what world governance we actually have" in reducing poverty and improving inequality by examining the emergence of international development as a concern for global institutions. This paper shifts the emphasis from identifying the earliest institutional manifestation of a concern for improving living standards to examining how well international organisations, bilateral aid programs, and non- state actors actually reduce poverty and inequality. It contends that industrial countries have a poor track record of reducing global poverty and, worse, improving global inequality when working through a variety of international mechanisms, including bilateral aid agencies, non- governmental organisations, foundations, and international financial institutions like the World Bank, the IMF, and their trade counterpart, the World Trade Organisation . This paper contends that while some progress has been made in eliminating poverty and reducing inequality—most notably in supporting small-scale agricultural production in developing jpaswr nations—these gains have been offset by a lack of policies (and material resources) to support land reform, small-scale technological enterprise, and the transfer of non-agricultural technology. The narrative in this paper is convincing, and the reform suggestions it makes are reasonable and doable. It makes the case that there is much that can be done to alleviate inequality both within and between governments in a way that promotes economic growth and, consequently, helps eradicate poverty. Even though the policy changes are far from revolutionary, their implementation is hindered by a lack of political will, the strength of different political lobbies (especially in agriculture, but also in manufacturing and pharmaceuticals), short-term strategic interests, and a lack of agreement on their necessity.

Keywords

DevelopmentInternational DevelopmentInternational Financial InstitutionsGovernancePovertyInequality

References

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Critical Reflections on Development and The Governance of Poverty and Inequality

Abstract

Keywords

References

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