“Poverty is not an accident. Like slavery and apartheid, it is man-made and can be removed by the actions of human beings.” Indeed, poverty is not a facet of the human condition; but an affront to human dignity, and the consequence of inadequate planning and a weak leadership. It may well be true that forces beyond the control of any single government can present unforeseen challenges, however these can be surmounted with grace, provided good governance and careful planning are abundant. To say “poor governance is the main cause of poverty within a country” therefore, would be within reason.
ANTI-THESIS 1
POINT
Detractors of my argument may aver that automation is the main cause of poverty, since the automation of menial and repetitive jobs displaces low-skilled, low-income labour, and deprives them of living wages.
ELABORATION
The worldwide globalisation phenomenon has led to rapid technological advancement in supply chain logistics, which resulted in the automation of many low-skilled jobs, such as those in assembly, packaging and distribution. When these low-income jobs disappear, the poor cannot afford the education needed to upskill transition to new jobs that appear in the IT sectors, hence they are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Disruptive technologies have also proliferated in the last decade as business conditions for technology start-ups improved, with similar consequences.
EXAMPLE
Amazon and other online marketplaces have modernised their distribution networks in a bid to ramp up efficiency and slash operating costs. Fulfilment centres are now outfitted with fleets of Kiva robots that operate round the clock and glide slickly under storage racks, allowing e-commerce companies to do away with aisles and break-times for more compact warehousing and tighter fulfilment schedules.
Likewise, the automotive industry is currently in a technological arms race to deploy autonomous semi-trucks on the roads, with Tesla’s Semi coupled with Enhanced Autopilot artificial intelligence as top contender, and other automotive giants like Volvo and Daimler not far behind.
EVALUATION OF EXAMPLE
Recent technological innovation has outmoded manual labour, leaving them with meagre severance packages and a dearth of employment opportunities.
For truckers, this could spell the end of their careers in the next decade, as they will likely find their jobs poached by autonomous vehicles that work tirelessly and far more efficiently than them.
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Hence, automation, not poor governance has jeopardised the livelihoods of blue collar workers, causing countless to dip below the poverty line.
ANTI-THESIS 2
POINT
In poor or marginalised communities, epidemic disease exacerbates poverty.
ELABORATION
Poverty and disease are stuck in an ongoing, vicious relationship as they intensify each other. Poor persons put themselves at higher risk of infection through poor diet, stress and overwork. Furthermore, the environments they inhabit (ranging from charity clinics, to wet markets and ghettos) are often hazardous and inhospitable, inundated with pathogens and other infectious agents. Once they fall ill, they are under considerable financial stress as medication is expensive, and they may not be in a position to receive financial aid especially if they are undocumented immigrants. If the disease is chronic or of an indefinite nature, the long term financial strain can whittle down their finances. Potential job losses and/or time off work due to illness or injury add to monetary burdens and have an adverse effect on economic development while children who lose their parents to infectious diseases face an increased risk of being exploited. Hence disease disproportionately affects people living in poor or marginalised communities.
EXAMPLE
The Global Report for Research on Infectious Diseases of Poverty (put together by the European Commission, the World Health Organization and TDR) offers a clear rationale of this relationship “Poverty creates conditions that favour the spread of infectious diseases and prevents affected populations from obtaining adequate access to prevention and care. Ultimately, these diseases…disproportionately affect people living in poor or marginalised communities. Social, economic and biological factors interact to drive a vicious cycle of poverty and disease from which, for many people, there is no escape.“
EVALUATION OF EXAMPLE
Disease drains finances and decimates the population, leaving households without breadwinner and without recourse.
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Hence, disease plays a major role in perpetuating poverty.
THESIS 1
POINT
Conversely, extractive institutions are responsible for protracted periods of poverty.
ELABORATION
Extractive institutions are ones that permit the elite to rule over and exploit others, extracting wealth from those who are not in the elite. Nations with a history of extractive institutions have not prospered, as the elite seize the country’s resources and stamp out incentive to invest and innovate, in order to secure exclusive access to the country’s economic and financial resources. Without private investment, an important engine of growth, as well as innovation to increase efficiency or create new products and markets, the economy stagnates. Thus, the masses live in perpetual poverty.
EXAMPLE
It is no great secret that the people of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea have suffered greatly under the communist regime, the fruits of their labour channelled into a frenzied game of Juche. With military-first politics dominating the political system, the centrally planned economy faces industrial and power output shortages because of the systemic problems.
EVALUATION OF EXAMPLE
DPRK leadership emphasises military objectives, hence the military is prioritised in resource allocation; consequently, social and economic objectives fall by the wayside.
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The people of North Korea languish in poverty due to the morally bankrupt dictatorship depriving its people of resources for their own nefarious purposes.
THESIS 2
POINT
Poverty is largely perpetuated by ineffectual government institutions whose polices inevitably lock people into the cycle of poverty.
ELABORATION
Convoluted business legislation tamps down the business prospects, and a principal-agent problem manifests when policymakers are tempted to betray longer-term goals of economic reform for short-term interests of maintaining voter satisfaction.
EXAMPLE
India’s stumbling block to its economic aspirations is its failure to liberalise factor markets, in particular labour and land markets. There are over 140 overlapping labour laws in India: 44 at the federal level and about 100 at the state level. States with overly restrictive laws have experienced weaker industrial growth and have benefited less from investment delicensing. The political economy of reform in both areas is difficult, given the regulatory overlap with different levels of government. Furthermore, the sheer size of the poor population means that there is a constant temptation for policymakers to focus their attention on spending tax revenues on handouts rather than on stoking economic growth in order to create jobs that lift people out of poverty.
EVALUATION OF EXAMPLE
What is needed is a small, tightly organised, but empowered group of policymakers, policy researchers and even younger politicians who are charged with thinking about India’s future and the policy strategies required to secure prosperity and productivity. Such a group should not seek to put out the daily fires that beset every government, but apply its strategic reasoning to all policies and programmes under review, and to new ones that no one is yet thinking about. Regrettably, the Modi government, like its predecessors, tends to get submerged in the many pressing day-to-day issues that confront it, and allow its rhetoric to run ahead of its results.
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All too often, poverty is allowed to fester, and it is the government which is guilty of negligence and slowness to action.
THESIS 3
POINT
Poverty ripples across the land, when an incapable government fails to suppress threats from within and without.
ELABORATION
Should the incursive meddling of foreign powers and disruptive actions of non-state political actors succeed, the resulting instability could disintegrate the establishment. Common characteristics of a failing state include a central government so weak or ineffective that it has an inability to raise taxes or other support, and has little practical control over much of its territory and hence a non-provision of public services. When this happens, widespread corruption and criminality and sharp economic decline can occur.
EXAMPLE
The Syrian Civil War led to mass destruction of public property and crippled essential services such as hospitals, utilities and transport networks. A vicious wave of chaos and looting rocked the country as necessities were scarce and dwindling fast. Homeless and destitute, the remnants of the Syrian population quickly found themselves stricken by poverty.
EVALUATION OF EXAMPLE
The power vacuum that followed the initial revolt allowed ISIS to assume control. Under the religious zealots, a semblance of order was restored, and to a certain extent, poverty was alleviated, as people received rations of food, water and clothing, as well as electricity and education after a time. Clearly, authority worth its mettle and backed by decent military might can quash threats to ensure peace.
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Poor governance in the form of futile deterrence leads to turmoil, famine and hardship.
CONCLUSION
Poverty can be blamed on economic phenomena, disease, turmoil. Yet as Shakespeare’s Cassius declared, “the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings”, and who should the government blame but themselves! The government’s duty is to defend its people against all enemies, both within and without, tangible or intangible. Poverty is the fault of the establishment.
For that reason, the only wise response to this verdict, is to hope that the government of the day will prevail in its judgements. The government must be prescient and prepare the nation; educating its people to adapt to structural changes in the economy, forestalling epidemics with mandatory immunisation programmes. It must be vigilant against foreign hostiles, as well as impotent leaders and sluggish bureaucracy, if it is to eradicate this abject violation of human dignity.
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