ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of the general argument that the process of economic development cannot eradicate poverty because it is implicated as a causative agent of the problems that poor people face. 1 The most common approach to studying poverty first identifies a ‘poverty sector’ viewed as the least developed part of the larger underdeveloped economy, and then investigates it through such instruments as ‘poverty surveys’ within that sector. All contemporary poverty discourses in Sri Lanka, be they conservative, liberal or radical, believe that there is a distinct, bounded poverty sector in the economy whose problems can be eradicated through economic development. But the origins of scarcity do not lie within the so-called ‘poverty sector’ because they are diffused throughout the larger society. It is my view that we cannot usefully address issues of poverty in Sri Lanka without first critically engaging with the development discourse that is a central part of the problem. Of course the case I make is a very general one and is not confined to the specific situation in Sri Lanka, as Simon and Narman have made clear in their recent discussion of development theory and practice (1999).
