Politics against poverty? Global pessimism and national optimism

Is it politically feasible for the governments of developing countries to r edistribute significant assets or income to the poor! Then is a great deal of scepticism within international development circles. This scepticism is fuelled by widespread ideas about the political impact of globalisation and by the economistic ways of thinking about politics that are increasingly i nfluential in international development organisations and aid agencies. Thi s scepticism is not justified, Arguments about the political Impact of glob alisation are exaggerated. Economistic models of politics provide a biased account of the real politics of anti-poverty and lead to undue pessimism ab out the scope for poor country governments to tackle poverty by redistribut ing resources.