Forum for Development Studies
Volume 43, Issue 1, 2016
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/sfds20/current
Special Issue: Frontiers of Research on Development and the Environment

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The Frontiers of Poverty Reduction in Emerging Asia
Dan Banik & Arve Hansen
pages 47-68
Free access
DOI:10.1080/08039410.2015.1134646
Abstract
It is difficult, if not impossible, to satisfactorily answer the question ‘Why does poverty persist?’ Nonetheless, there appear to be two approaches that can provide a useful start. One alternative is to examine why poverty (and extreme forms of it) continue to persist in the poorest countries of the world, mainly in Sub-Saharan Africa. The other, which is the focus on this article, is to examine a set of factors or reforms that have worked in reducing poverty in middle-income countries of the ‘Emerging South’ and the challenges these countries continue to face in distributing the benefits of economic growth and addressing persistent levels of poverty within their borders. We aim to better understand successful attempts to reduce poverty in a selected few emerging economies – India, China and Vietnam – by examining the role of specific types of reforms and initiatives in shaping and determining action by national governments to reduce poverty. Do some of these emerging economies advocate and adopt different poverty-reduction policies? If so, what, how and why? And to what extent can some of these poverty-reduction models be usefully applied in other developing country contexts? We then identify and discuss two broad sets of frontiers of research and policy-making on poverty in emerging Asia – environmental challenges and growing inequality – that require considerable attention if India, China and Vietnam are to experience continued economic growth and poverty reduction.

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What Counts as Progress? The Contradictions of Global Health Initiatives
Sidsel Roalkvam & Desmond McNeill
pages 69-88
DOI:10.1080/08039410.2015.1134645
Abstract
Global initiatives to finance maternal and child health have saved millions of lives and protected millions more against the ravages of crippling and debilitating disease; for this they are to be highly commended. Such technological and vertical programmes are appealing to policy-makers at the global level; but these health interventions take place within complex social and economic structures, and pertinent questions have been raised both about some negative consequences of these programmes and the implications for governance at local, national and global levels. Based on recent and ongoing research, and especially on a case study from India, this article critically assesses these related concerns. Is it the case that these programmes may actually weaken local health systems, which are crucial both in themselves and for ensuring health improvements? Do they change the direction of accountability, with national governments becoming accountable upwards to donors (for achieving specified numerical targets) rather than downwards to their citizens? And do such programmes also serve to de-politicize the field of global public health, diverting attention from the responsibilities of powerful nations to rectify the shortcomings of the global political economy and global governance which impact negatively on people’s health?