During The World Summit For Social Development, Held In Copenhagen In March 1995, Unesco Organised A Round Table, In Collaboration With Crop — The Comparative Research Programme On Poverty, Set Up By The International Social Science Council (Issc) — To Discuss The Problem Of Promoting Participation Of The Poor In Civil Society. This Book Carries The Proceedings Of That Round Table Edited By Dr. Yogesh Atal And Professor Else Oyen Who Jointly Convened That Round Table. The Holding Of The Round Table, And This Publication Of Its Proceedings, Constitute One Of The Several Contributions Made By Unesco To The World Summit Process. In View Of The Fact That The Decade Of 1997-2006 Has Been Declared By The United Nations As The International Decade For The Eradication Of Poverty The Publication Of The Proceedings Of This Round Table Is Timely And Important. What Was Deliberated At The Round Table Should Help Develop An Agenda Not Only For Research And Reflection, But Also For Affirmative Action.

"How do poor people in Latin America participate in politics? What explains the variation in the patterns of voting, protesting, and contacting government for the region's poorest citizens? Why are participation gaps larger in some countries than in others? This book offers the first large scale empirical analysis of political participation in Latin America, focusing on patterns of participation among the poorest citizens in each country, and comparing those patterns to those of individuals with more resources. Far from being politically inert, under certain conditions the poorest citizens in Latin America can act and speak for themselves with an intensity that far exceeds their modest socioeconomic resources. We argue that key institutions of democracy, namely civil society, political parties, and competitive elections, have an enormous impact on whether or not poor people turn out to vote, protest, and contact government officials. When voluntary organizations thrive in poor communities and when political parties focus their mobilization efforts on poor individuals, they respond with high levels of political activism. Poor people's activism also benefits from strong parties, robust electoral competition and well-functioning democratic institutions. Where electoral competition is robust and where the power of incumbents is constrained, we see higher levels of participation by poor individuals and more political equality. Precisely because the individual resource constraints that poor people face are daunting obstacles to political activism, our explanation focuses on those features of democratic politics that create opportunities for participation that have the strongest effect on poor people's political behavior"--

This publication contains a number of essays and supplementary materials based on a two-day working meeting, held in Washington D.C. in March 2004 and organised jointly by the World Bank and the UK Department for International Development, to consider the relationships between power, rights and poverty reduction issues in theory and practice. Issues addressed include: competing definitions and concepts of power and rights, using experiences drawn from different countries; ways of helping development practitioners to apply these concepts to their work; a summary of the major theoretical conceptualisations of power and a literature review on power and rights.

For too long a conventional wisdom has held sway, suggesting that poor people in poor countries are not supportive of democracy and that democracies will be sustained only after a certain average level of wealth has been achieved. Evidence from 24 diverse countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America examined in this volume shows how poor people do not value democracy any less than their richer counterparts. Their faith in democracy is as high as that of other citizens, and they participate in democratic activities as much as their richer counterparts. Democracy is not likely to be unstable or unwelcome simply because poverty is widespread. Political attitudes and participation levels are unaffected by relative wealth. Education, rather than income or wealth, makes for more committed and engaged democratic citizens. Investments in education will make a critical difference for stabilizing and strengthening democracy.

Partnership Forums are the means by which the OECD Development Assistance Committee provides a venue for non-governmental actors to express their points of view. This book presents the proceedings of the December 2000 Forum on Onwership and Partnership.