Poverty

This topic provides an opportunity to explore political issues connected to poverty through a case studies approach.
Many of the topics, political issues and key concepts encountered in the four core units of the course are also central to discussions of poverty; for example, the impact of globalization and economic integration on poverty, or cooperation between states and non-state actors in initiatives to address poverty. There are particularly strong links to the unit on development, with its emphasis on the concept of inequality. However, experience of poverty can also be approached from a human rights perspective, and poverty plays a significant role in some conflicts.

Learning outcomes:
• knowledge and understanding of a specific case study and a specific political issue related to poverty
• application of relevant key concepts, theories and ideas from the core units to analysis of the case
• evaluation of the case study from different perspectives and in the wider context of global politics
• an experience of having carried out a self-directed, teacher-supported research process and communicating the conclusions of this process through an oral presentation.

Suggested examples
Students must undertake a detailed case study relating to the global political challenge presented by poverty, and deliver an oral presentation focused on a political issue embedded in the case. The case studies and political issues below are examples only.

• Child labour in the “Smokey Mountain” rubbish dump in Manila, the Philippines—effectiveness of a local versus national political approach

• Boko Haram and child soldiers—role of poverty in driving the phenomenon

• Poverty within the Aboriginal community in Queensland, Australia—why do the state’s policies continually fail?

• “Relative poverty” in the UK—at which level of politics is this most effectively tackled?

• The Global Poverty Project and the campaign “Live Below the Line”—the role of empathy in the fight against poverty