POVERTY AND THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS: A CRITICAL LOOK FORWARD

Alberto D. Cimadamore, Gabriele Koehler and Thomas Pogge

Poverty has been at the centre of the debate on development for several decades. A series of UN Decades on development and on the eradication of poverty framed the discourse of the international community. Institutional and material resources have been mobilized at national and international levels since the 1950s, but with modest results. Poverty has remained a structural feature in most societies, accompanied by growing and increasingly visible income and wealth disparities. Despite progressive discourses and policies, high- and middle-income countries witnessed an unprecedented accumulation of wealth, and developing countries saw a skewed concentration of welfare and human development outcomes to the disadvantage of poor and socially excluded communities. National and international systems have worked very well for the elites, while the majority of the world population continues to suffer multiple deprivations, foremost among them extreme poverty and hunger.

It does not take an academic or an expert in social relations to realize that the systemic biases towards income and wealth concentration in the face of persistent – and increasing – poverty render current national and international systems ethically unacceptable and politically unsustainable. This is the conviction and the concern which drive this volume.

The new millennium: from an overarching Declaration to specific goals

In the year 2000, the rousing Millennium Declaration and its timid operationalization, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), conveyed the message that concrete and stepped-up action was needed: the economic and social systems were reproducing poverty and exclusions at levels that were not compatible with democratic ideals and the notion of dignity and a decent life for all. These had been promised by the UN and the multilateral system since 1945 (Stokke 2009; Koehler this volume).

There was a noticeable change in the discourse and mobilization of resources during the first fifteen years of this century, and another shift may be on its way (UN SG 2014). A critical assessment of the MDGs is necessary and we could have reached a moment in history conducive to producing the meaningful changes required to fulfil the commitment to eradicating extreme poverty and achieving human development and a better life for all. This volume intends to provide that kind of assessment, combined with a look ahead at the new development agenda, currently cast as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Millennium Declaration signed by leaders of 189 states resulted in one of the most visible and unified global campaigns to address poverty in the history of multilateral development cooperation: the Millennium Development Goals (UN SG 2001). A critical review of the MDGs needs to acknowledge their merits, even if the text of the eight MDGs considerably weakened and watered down the core tenets of the Millennium Declaration. Chapter III of the Millennium Declaration, on development and poverty eradication, for example, had clearly spelt out the commitment of the leaders of the world to 'spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty' and 'to making the right to development a reality for everyone and to freeing the entire human race from want'. The road out of poverty was more vaguely defined as the aspiration to create an environment – at national and global levels alike – 'conducive to development and to the elimination of poverty'.

Still, the Declaration conveyed a strong commitment at the highest level in world politics. Fifteen years later, its fragility and ineffectiveness are more than evident: we observe an environment that is not especially conducive either to the elimination of poverty, or to fair development for all. On the contrary, hunger and poverty remain an oppressive reality for many people, and we observe growing inequality as well as extreme economic, political, social and environmental inequities. Some analysts argue that the depth of income and wealth inequalities is unprecedented (Piketty 2014), and that the exploitation of nature has already outstripped several planetary boundaries (Steffen et al. 2015).

The time has therefore come to critically highlight the shortcomings of the Millennium Declaration. This is primarily because a 'rosy' picture of MDG success tends to obscure their weaknesses and failures. During recent years, UN top officials have been reaffirming 'that the MDGs have made a profound difference in people's lives' and that 'global poverty has been halved five years ahead of the 2015 timeframe' (UN 2014c: 3; see also UN 2014b and UN 2012: Foreword). Many other examples could be cited of international and national politicians, journalists and development professionals making selective use of statistics to proclaim good news about the worldwide decline in poverty. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, poverty reduction is causally attributed to the MDGs: 'the MDGs have helped to lift millions of people out of poverty' (UN 2011: 3).

There are always different ways to look at the same social reality. The official discourse of states and the UN system tends to focus on progress and success. This is understandable, since they need to remain credible and have a responsibility to sustain the momentum of the development agenda. Academics and civil society, however, need to push the boundaries of knowledge, and have a responsibility to elucidate and advocate for social justice as a necessary condition for better societies. Their task is to provide a critical view: to assess progress analytically, expose the lack of achievement, provide explanations for...