Global Governance, Poverty and Inequality

A series of crises unfolded in the latter part of the first decade of the 21st Century which combined to exacerbate already profound conditions of global economic inequality and poverty in the world’s poorest countries. In 2007, the unsound lending practices that caused a collapse in the US housing market ushered in a broader economic crisis that reverberated throughout the global financial system. This economic shockwave had a global impact, triggering not just instability in other industrialized countries, but also in their developing world counterparts, also highlighting deficiencies in the current structures of global governance to protect the world’s poorest and most disadvantaged.

This book offers answers to questions raised about the role of global governance in the attenuation and amelioration of world poverty and inequality. The contributors interrogate the role of systems of governance at a time of global economic crisis and continuing environmental degradation against a backdrop of acceleration in inequalities within and between communities and across the globe.

Evaluating how existing systems can be reformed or redesigned to be more effective at addressing issues of poverty and inequality and providing a comprehensive discussion of a wide range of global governance initiatives this work will be essential reading for students and scholars of global governance, international relations and international organizations.

Jennifer Clapp is a Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI) Chair in Global Environmental Governance and Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at the University of Waterloo, Canada.

Rorden Wilkinson is Professor of International Political Economy, Head of the Centre for International Politics, and Professorial Fellow in the Brooks World Poverty Institute (BWPI) at the University of Manchester. His work focuses on international trade, global governance, development and globalization.

Foreword: Poverty, Inequality and the United Nations System Louise Fréchette. Introduction. Governing Global Poverty and Inequality Rorden Wilkinson and Jennifer Clapp Part 1: Development and the Governance of Poverty and Inequality 1. Global Governance Meets Development: A Brief History of an Innovation in World Politics Eric Helleiner 2. What Type of Global Governance Would Best Lower World Poverty and Inequality? Albert Berry Part 2: Bretton Woods and the Amelioration of Poverty and Inequality 3. IMF Rhetoric on Reducing Poverty and Inequality Bessma Momani 4. The Effect of IMF Programs on Public Wages and Salaries Irfan Nooruddin and James Raymond Vreeland 5. Reforming the World Bank Catherine Weaver Part 3: Promising Poverty Reduction, Governing Indebtedness 6. Governing Global Poverty? Global Ambivalence and the Millennium Development Goals David Hulme 7. The Paris Club, Debt and Poverty Reduction: Evolving Patterns of Governance Thomas M. Callaghy Part 4: Complex Multilateralism, Public/Private Partnerships and Global Business 8.Commonwealth(s) and Poverty/Inequality: Contributions to Global Governance/Development Timothy M. Shaw 9.The Global Elite, Public-Private Partnerships and Multilateral Governance Benedicte Bull 10.Business, Development and Inequality Ananya Mukherjee Reed Part 5: Horizontal Inequalities and Faith Institutions 11. Global Aspects and Implications of Horizontal Inequalities (HIs): Inequalities Experienced by Muslims Worldwide Frances Stewart 12. Governance and Inequality: Reflections on Faith Dimensions Katherine Marshall