Power, rights, and poverty : concepts and connections ; [Working Meeting on "Power, Rights, and Poverty Reduction" ... in March 2004

While the terms “power” and “rights” are increasingly incorporated into the language of development agencies they have yet to fully permeate the practice of poverty reduction. Acknowledging that this partly results from a lack of clarity over the concepts of power and rights and partly from questions of how to operationalize these ideas, the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development co-sponsored a series of short papers for focusing on enhancing understanding of the relationships between power, rights, and poverty reductions. Following discussion during a two day working meeting, this publication brings together the edited papers, along with a selection of supplementary materials. A first series of papers addresses competing definitions and conceptual issues around power and rights, illustrating these with experiences observing and applying the concepts in practice in different countries. Following this, papers address topics aimed at helping development practitioners to apply these concepts to their work. Part II contains the supplemental materials, including a summary of the major theoretical conceptualizations of power, and an overview of the literature on power and rights. Prepared by leading thinkers on the topics of power and rights these materials offer both development professionals and students of development studies succinct summaries of the relationship between theory and practice. While the terms "power" and "rights" are increasingly incorporated into the language of development agencies they have yet to fully permeate the practice of poverty reduction. Acknowledging that this partly results from a lack of clarity over the concepts of power and rights and partly from questions of how to operationalize these ideas, the World Bank and the United Kingdom Department for International Development co-sponsored a collection of essays by leading thinkers and practitioners to enhance our understanding of the relationships among power, rights, and poverty reduction. This volume offers both development professionals and students of development studies succinct summaries of the relationship between theory and practice.The first chapters of this book address competing definitions and concepts of power and rights, drawing upon observations and applications of these concepts in different countries. Other chapters focus on topics aimed at helping development practitioners apply these concepts to their work. Part II contains supplemental materials, including a summary of the major theoretical conceptualizations of power and an overview of the literature on power and rights. Contents......Page 7 Foreword......Page 9 Part I: Exploring Concepts and Applications: Presenter Papers......Page 11 1. Power, Rights, and Poverty Reduction......Page 13 2. Linking Power and Poverty Reduction......Page 25 3. Rights, Power, and Poverty Reduction......Page 39 4. Power Relations and Poverty Reduction......Page 61 5. Empowerment and Institutional Change: Mapping “Virtuous Circles” of State-Society Interaction......Page 78 6. Measuring Empowerment: Country Indicators......Page 103 7. Empowerment at the Local Level: Issues, Responses, Assessments......Page 121 Part II: Supplemental Materials......Page 129 8. Measuring Empowerment: An Analytic Framework......Page 130 9. Working Meeting on Power, Rights, and Poverty Reduction: A Summary......Page 136 10. Understanding the Concept of Power......Page 147 11. Literature Review......Page 157 Power, Rights, And Poverty Reduction / Ruth Alsop And Andrew Norton -- Linking Power And Poverty Reduction / Rosalind Eyben -- Rights, Power And Poverty Reduction / Caroline Moser -- Power Relations And Poverty Reduction / David Mosse -- Empowerment And Institutional Change : Mapping Virtuous Circles Of State-society Interaction / Jonathan Fox -- Measuring Empowerment : Country Indicators / Jeremy Holland And Simon Brook -- Empowerment At The Local Level : Issues, Responses, Assessments / Michael Woodcock -- Measuring Empowerment : An Anlytic Framework / Ruth Alsop, Nina Heinsohn, And Abigail Somma -- Working Meeting On Power, Rights, And Poverty Reduction : A Summary / Nina Heinsohn -- Understanding The Concept Of Power / Fruzsina Csaszar-- Literature Review / Fruzsina Csaszar. Edited By Ruth Alsop. Includes Bibliographical References.