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The pendulum of development: From "the end of history" to "make poverty history"
Poverty has been a central focus of development since the 1960s. Despite a marked decrease in poverty worldwide, the incidence of poverty remains high; where one in ten people live under the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. In light of the persistence of poverty, international efforts to “...
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| Format: | Thesis |
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2017
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| _version_ | 1867613410988916736 |
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| access_status_str | Open Access |
| author | El-Shafei, Abby |
| author_browse | El-Shafei, Abby |
| author_facet | El-Shafei, Abby |
| author_sort | El-Shafei, Abby |
| collection | Thesis |
| dc_rights_str_mv | The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy. |
| description | Poverty has been a central focus of development since the 1960s. Despite a marked decrease in poverty worldwide, the incidence of poverty remains high; where one in ten people live under the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. In light of the persistence of poverty, international efforts to “make poverty history” have been pursued. Neoliberalism is an economic policy characterized by state retrenchment, free trade, market liberalization, deregulation, privatization, commercialized social programs, and foreign investment. Since its triumph over communism, neoliberalism marked “the end of history.” This thesis examines poverty reduction and neoliberalism in the context of international development in order to illustrate how poverty is perpetuated through international policies of inclusive neoliberalism. Much like a pendulum, international development has oscillated between efforts to reduce poverty to the advancement of neoliberalism. The primary concern of this thesis is how poverty is sustained through international poverty reduction strategies that implicitly employ the tenets of neoliberalism in the pursuit of development. More specifically, this thesis illustrates the tension that is created when the logic of neoliberalism collides with the logic of inclusion as contained in poverty reduction strategies. There is a paradox whereby poverty reduction strategies deployed by international development institutions work against their purported aims when implicitly employing the tenets of neoliberalism. This thesis employs a Gramscian and Neo-Gramscian framework whereby the poor can be examined simultaneously alongside the overarching neoliberal hegemony that is complicit in their abject poverty. Assessing inclusive neoliberalism through a Gramscian framework offers a gateway to analyzing the determinants of existing structural global imbalances that sustain poverty. The thesis is argued through case studies of microfinance and conditional cash transfers internationally followed by a consideration of their application in Egypt. This thesis argues that, as tools of inclusive neoliberalism, these two initiatives undertaken to reduce poverty have instead reinvented ways to integrate the poor into the world market. |
| format | Thesis |
| id | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-1610 |
| institution | American University in Cairo (Egypt) |
| last_indexed | 2026-06-10T12:35:42.290Z |
| license_str | Other — see source repository |
| provenance_str_mv | Harvested via OAI-PMH from AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| publishDate | 2017 |
| publishDateRange | 2017 |
| publishDateSort | 2017 |
| publisher | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| publisherStr | AUC Knowledge Fountain |
| record_format | dspace |
| source_str | AUC Knowledge Fountain — bepress |
| spelling | oai:fount.aucegypt.edu:etds-1610 The pendulum of development: From "the end of history" to "make poverty history" El-Shafei, Abby Poverty has been a central focus of development since the 1960s. Despite a marked decrease in poverty worldwide, the incidence of poverty remains high; where one in ten people live under the international poverty line of $1.90 a day. In light of the persistence of poverty, international efforts to “make poverty history” have been pursued. Neoliberalism is an economic policy characterized by state retrenchment, free trade, market liberalization, deregulation, privatization, commercialized social programs, and foreign investment. Since its triumph over communism, neoliberalism marked “the end of history.” This thesis examines poverty reduction and neoliberalism in the context of international development in order to illustrate how poverty is perpetuated through international policies of inclusive neoliberalism. Much like a pendulum, international development has oscillated between efforts to reduce poverty to the advancement of neoliberalism. The primary concern of this thesis is how poverty is sustained through international poverty reduction strategies that implicitly employ the tenets of neoliberalism in the pursuit of development. More specifically, this thesis illustrates the tension that is created when the logic of neoliberalism collides with the logic of inclusion as contained in poverty reduction strategies. There is a paradox whereby poverty reduction strategies deployed by international development institutions work against their purported aims when implicitly employing the tenets of neoliberalism. This thesis employs a Gramscian and Neo-Gramscian framework whereby the poor can be examined simultaneously alongside the overarching neoliberal hegemony that is complicit in their abject poverty. Assessing inclusive neoliberalism through a Gramscian framework offers a gateway to analyzing the determinants of existing structural global imbalances that sustain poverty. The thesis is argued through case studies of microfinance and conditional cash transfers internationally followed by a consideration of their application in Egypt. This thesis argues that, as tools of inclusive neoliberalism, these two initiatives undertaken to reduce poverty have instead reinvented ways to integrate the poor into the world market. 2017-06-01T07:00:00Z thesis application/pdf https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/611 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/1610/viewcontent/Abby_20El_Shafei_20Spring_202017_2c_20Final_20Thesis_20.pdf The author retains all rights with regard to copyright. The author certifies that written permission from the owner(s) of third-party copyrighted matter included in the thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study has been obtained. The author further certifies that IRB approval has been obtained for this thesis, or that IRB approval is not necessary for this thesis. Insofar as this thesis, dissertation, paper, or record of study is an educational record as defined in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) (20 USC 1232g), the author has granted consent to disclosure of it to anyone who requests a copy. Theses and Dissertations AUC Knowledge Fountain Neoliberalism International Development |
| spellingShingle | Neoliberalism International Development El-Shafei, Abby The pendulum of development: From "the end of history" to "make poverty history" |
| title | The pendulum of development: From "the end of history" to "make poverty history" |
| title_full | The pendulum of development: From "the end of history" to "make poverty history" |
| title_fullStr | The pendulum of development: From "the end of history" to "make poverty history" |
| title_full_unstemmed | The pendulum of development: From "the end of history" to "make poverty history" |
| title_short | The pendulum of development: From "the end of history" to "make poverty history" |
| title_sort | pendulum of development from the end of history to make poverty history |
| topic | Neoliberalism International Development |
| url | https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/611 https://fount.aucegypt.edu/context/etds/article/1610/viewcontent/Abby_20El_Shafei_20Spring_202017_2c_20Final_20Thesis_20.pdf |
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