ABSTRACT
Poverty consolidates the material divide between us and them, an ideational divide. In the fast age of digital communication and connectivity, the end of poverty has become the truly ‘global’ public policy issue of our times, eclipsing global warming, human trafficking or illegal drugs. Moderate poverty generally refers to conditions of life in which basic needs are met, but just barely. Relative poverty is generally construed as a household income level below a certain level of average national income. The recognition of poverty as a social problem has been based on different understandings of the factors that cause it. Many grand schemes have been advanced to remove the blot of poverty on human conscience. The predominant forms that attempts to end poverty have taken are neoliberal globalisation, economic liberalisation, or market fundamentalism. While economic growth was always regarded as a necessary condition to alleviate poverty, it was subordinated to a wider commitment to development.
