Globalizatioil and the politics of poverty alleviation in the South

Persistent poverty and on-going restructuring of the state have produced new conceptualizations of social development and poverty alleviation in the South. It is argued in this article that it is important to undertake critical political analyses of specific programs for poverty alleviation. The scope and scale of poverty alleviation programs are seen as products of political and economic structures, but also of specific material and symbolic practices employed by key political actors. The article outlines some conceptual considerations regarding the politics of poverty alleviation and illustrates these with a brief discussion of the Janasaviya Poverty Alleviation Program in Sri Lanka.