Poverty: The Socio-economic Dimension of Sustainable Development

Abstract

Poverty eradication has become a global political priority. The United Nations have made it clear that poverty is the most important issue to be resolved if sustainable development is to be reached. The first and most prominent of the recently proclaimed Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) thus boldly reads „End poverty in all its forms everywhere“. Poverty has been a constant feature of humanity. It has been the source of fierce political debates and repression, of internal and external instability, of upheavals and violent conflicts. It is obvious that poverty, within a nation, a region or on an international level not only prevents millions of people from decent livelihoods, equality, justice, rights and general human flourishing. It is the single-most debilitating obstacle that inhibits other political goals from being reached. But what is poverty exactly? Who counts as poor? And who does not? Should we actively do something against poverty? And if so, what? This course proposes answers to these questions. Poverty is a social construct that can only be understood in the light of specific social, historical, cultural, economic and political contexts. It is a multidimensional phenomenon that cannot be analyzed through the lens of a single scientific discipline alone.