ABSTRACT
R. Tooze and C. N. Murphy claim that poverty has been rendered 'invisible' in International Relations (IR)/Intenational Political Economy (IPE). The idea of the poor as passive object has been reinforced by the quantitative approaches adopted by positivist methodologies of poverty research. This chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines the historical sociology of the Philippines in order to inform an understanding of contemporary social structures and power configurations within Philippine society. It aims to whilst disruptive strains of neo-liberal market economics exacerbate poverty, it offers as a solution to the problem by neo-liberal dominated forms of knowledge which are premised on growth rather than redistribution. The chapter looks at how poverty is caused and constructed by looking across various levels of analysis, from the local to the international.
