From Poverty to Power:
what kind of redistribution leads to
lasting progress?
Prof Duncan Green
Delhi
October 2012
Inequality/Poverty of what?
• Opportunities v Outcomes
• Multidimensionality – inequality of shame and
fear
• Well-being (collective and individual)
• But underlying all of these is........
Power
But Power is much more than
presidents on balconies
• Power as force field
• Different frameworks for exploring power
– Visibility: Visible, Invisible, Hidden
– Spaces: Intra elite; created; invited
– Four powers
The four powers
•
•
•
•
Power Within
Power With
Power To
Power Over
Starting with Gender
We Can End Violence Against Women
“To me change is the killing of fear.
Someone or something needs to kindle
the fire in you and kill the fear that stops
you from changing. I have killed the fear
of talking and that is a change for me.”
Selvaranjani Mukkaiah, Change Maker,
Badulla, Sri Lanka
SO WHAT IS NEEDED TO
REDISTRIBUTE POWER?
Active Citizens
Effective
States
But Power is Complex!