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    Who is Responsible for Alleviating Global Poverty?

    Abstract

    In this essay I will argue that poverty has often been caused by the global order, sustained by

    corporate, governmental and individual interests. Acknowledging the historical trends of

    developing countries, from slavery to colonialism and independence, I will argue that the increasingpoverty has largely been caused by those actors who have enslaved, colonised or otherwise forced

    conditions upon countries they deemed inferior. Noting how corruption, mismanagement and a lack

    of infrastructure are large reasons for modern poverty, I will argue that these are consequences of

    the historical processes, and were sometimes directly imposed upon developing countries,

    particularly on independence. Therefore, I will argue that responsibility for alleviating global poverty

    lies, firstly, with those who have benefitted from the global poverty, and secondly, as Singer argues,

    with those who have the available resources to help others without harming themselves.

    Essay

    While over 24,000 children die every day as a result of poverty and poverty-related causes (You et al.2010), 1% of the entire worlds population command 40% of the wealth (Davies et al. 2006). Such

    inequality means the three richest individuals now ownmore wealth than the 48 poorest countries

    and their 600 million people (Potter, 2000, p.80). One of the most striking issues is the importance of

    morally arbitrary factors: many people born in the developed world have life expectancies double

    that ofmany in developing countries (CIA, 2009). Indeed despite increased life-expectancy and

    reduced infant-mortality in developed countries, Life expectancy in some African countries has

    fallen by 20 years in the past decade (Berkeley, 2001).

    Case Study: the Democratic Republic of Congo

    To find who is responsible for alleviating such poverty, it must be considered that all but two African

    countries were annexed by Europeans. Many have been independent for less than half a century,

    and one of the most notable examples of exploitation was in the country currently known as the

    Democratic Republic of Congo. Since independence, Half of the countrys children [have] died by

    the age of five (Berkeley, 2001, p.116) and twenty years after independence, in 1960, per capita

    income was less than one tenth of what it had been at independence. (Ibid. p.115) Critics argue

    that with a vast land area and a wealth ofnatural resources, mainly diamonds, copper and cobalt,

    the Democratic Republic of Congo has great potential squandered by domestic corruption, bad

    infrastructure and poor economic management. In support they cite Uganda, a country whose

    institutions were destroyed by brutal dictators like Idi Amin and Milton Obote, but which later

    achieved growth of over 5 percent annually (Ibid).

    While true, the root cause of the lack of infrastructure and rampant corruption are more

    illuminating. During colonisation, King Leopold II viewed the Congo as his private fiefdom,

    extracting the countrys natural resources for the benefit of Belgians, leaving little or no

    infrastructure from which to build an independent nation: after independence, in a country of 15

    million people, there were only sixteen university graduates. The human cost of colonisation

    certainly explains part of this stagnation as 5-10 million Congolese perished from overwork,

    malnutrition and outright slaughter during Leopolds tenure (Ibid).

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    Critics, however, point to the manner in which conditions have worsened since independence. For a

    newly independent country inheriting such conditions, however, to be saddled with huge debts and

    be expected to build an infrastructure, without prior experience, seems an impossible feat. The

    overshadowing figure of modern Congolese history is Mobutu Sese Seko. Embezzling up to $12

    billion, only President Suharto of Indonesia was more corrupt in the twentieth century (Denny,

    2004)

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    . Being Congolese, some argue responsibility for the actions of Mobutu and his allies isdomestic, but the first problem is in what we call the Congo, as Virtually all of Africas states had

    their borders drawn by colonial powers (Driscoll, 2009). These borders cut across traditional tribal

    boundaries and States, while methods of control, colonial powers often empowered a minority tribe

    to help coerce others, producing resentment and making it all but impossible for any coherent State

    to emerge. Such tribal conflicts are often blamed for instability in such regions, but the origins of

    conflicts for the monopoly of violence often arose from those colonial methods of control. Such

    methods contributed to persistent violence and political upheaval in Liberia, as well as the Rwandan

    genocide of 1994 (Berkeley, 2001).2

    These inherited political problems created a high level of competition to succeed colonial powers.

    Although many countries elected leaders, most soon descended into some form of militarydictatorship. In many cases, the former colonial power groomed leaders within the military,

    providing economic and military support for coup dtats. From the early 1960s to the late 1980s

    there were over 70 military coups and 13 Presidential assassinations in Africa; the coup dtat

    remains the most common form of regime change (Driscoll, 2009).The first leader of the DR Congo

    was Patrice Lumumba. Elected Prime Minister in June 1960, in the rhetoric of the Cold War it was

    feared Lumumba presented a Communist threat. Larry Devlin, a CIA operative, sent several

    concerned messages to Washington until President Eisenhower ordered the assassination of the

    new prime minister giving Devlin the necessary chemical tools (Berkeley, 2001, p.110).

    Mobutus friendship with Devlin is one of the reasons the US supported him.3 Financially and

    ideologically this became quite a prosperous relationship: the US directly provided $2 billion in

    1All dollars are in US$ unless otherwise stated.

    2 In Liberia, former President Samuel Doe was part of the Krahn tribe, traditionally a small tribe who were

    unproportionally privileged by American colonial powers. Supported by the US, Doe traded military positioning

    and unwavering allegiance in the international realm for military and financial assistance. American company

    Firestone came to own the Worlds largest rubber plantation and accounted for a quarter of Liberias tax

    revenue, profit which came partially from bribing top officials with large houses and salaries. Charles Taylor

    used this deep-seated resentment of the privilege the Krahn tribe enjoyed to enflame violence, managing the

    conflict to position himself into power (Berkeley, 2001).

    Rwanda followed a similar pattern, though the Tutsis and the Hutus had intermarried and shared land

    peacefully until they were separated as distinct tribes by the Belgians during colonialism. Many scholars even

    argue that they are not distinct tribes. Given special privileges by the Belgians, resentment grew against the

    Tutsis and after independence the Belgians left Rwanda with a weak infrastructure and massive conflict

    between these groups. One tribe committed massacres of the other, and revenge was repeatedly sought.

    Powerful elites exploited this lack of accountability, as the tribes were generally blamed, rather than the

    political elites who had engineered the slaughters for their own ends (Berkeley, 2001 & Bowen, 1996).3Before the countrys independence, Mobutu had served seven years in the army as punishment for being

    expelled from several schools. Shortly afterwards he was exiled after being found writing for a nationalist

    newspaper opposed to Belgian rule. During his time in exile he met Devlin in Brussels, and the pair returned to

    Congo together in 1960. Becoming a colonel and chief of staff of the army, Mobutu used these positions to

    effect what he called a peaceful revolution, more commonly known as a coup d'tat. Lumumba had not

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    foreign assistance, while the IMF and World Bank gave more in loans (Ibid). Mobutus wealth

    trickled-down to his selected cronies, and his absolute control of the central bank enabled him to

    make a mockery of parliamentary budget appropriations, 10% of the allocated resources went to

    schools and teachers and 1/3 of the allocated healthcare budget to intended recipients (Ibid, p.114).

    Mobutus monopoly of violence depended on US military and financial aid, and political wrangling

    stunted growth, while hyperinflation created recessions and huge conflicts. Such conflicts led to

    Africas war, and after over a decade 5.4 million people died due to direct fighting, displacement,

    malnutrition and starvation. The onus of responsibility for DR Congos poverty, then, is with the elite

    groups within the DR Congo, who were organising and directly carrying out the political oppression.

    These elites, however, were trained and funded by Western powers, including the American and

    British governments, who provided direct military support for Mobutu during several coup attempts.

    In exchange, the US received access to the countrys vast natural resources and strategic military

    position, even acknowledging the deprivation of the Congolese people (Berkeley, 2001).

    Debt

    One the most real consequences for the people within developing countries is that no matter howmuch a leader steals from a country, how much the IMF or World Bank provide in aid, or how many

    protectionist measures richer countries implement to make their goods more competitive than

    those of poorer countries, it is the poor who must pay the price. That poverty is increasing while an

    elite minority gets richer is a clear consequence of that rich elite siphoning off loans and financial

    assistance, with little or no benefit for others. It is these ordinary citizens, however, who must pay

    for the past and present loans. Thus, despite numerous wars, coup attempts, assassinations, and an

    economy in ruin, it is those displaced and impoverished people who must pay the balance and the

    debt service to those who supported despotic leaders like Mobutu, profiting from their countrys

    ruin.

    One of the most difficult issues to reconcile is the motive of such institutions. Despite claiming to be

    concerned with reducing poverty, a brief look at policies and actions reveals a greater concern for

    macroeconomic factors and special business interests (Stiglitz, 2002 & 2007). Latin America and the

    Caribbean, for example, paid Northern creditors $1.165 trillion in debt service alone, over the last

    two decades of the twentieth century. To eliminate Perus extreme poverty, where 49% of the

    population live on less than $2 a day, would cost $332 million annually; tellingly, Peru pays five times

    that amount in debt repayments (Boyd, 1999).

    Many countries take out new loans to pay for debt service, inflation, and the original value of the old

    loans, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean region owed

    $610 billion in 1980, a figure which grew nearly four-fold to $2.3 trillion in 1997. A 400% increase in

    seventeen years is unsustainable, and many countries cannot afford to repay their debts and invest

    in social services to benefit their people. Debt service in Honduras, for example, is 11% of GDP,

    double what the country invests in health and education. By the end of the twentieth century,

    been assassinated by this point, but had been arrested, and despite escaping once he was caught again, and

    then tortured and killed. Devlinnoted thatalthough he had the approval and ability to assassinate him, this

    matter was dealt with internally, allowing Washington to take no responsibility (Berkeley, 2001).

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    Honduras had paid over $500 million in debt service, still owing $4.7 billion. In some countries debt

    service counts for 20% of GDP and for Brazil and Argentina, who were once hailed as free-market

    success stories, debt in excess of $250 billion and $150 billion respectively have led the countries to

    become some of the most unequal societies in the world. Argentinean debt increased 350% in the

    last decade of the twentieth century, while in a single year Brazils debt rose 48% due to the

    devaluation of the real, Brazils currency (Potter, 2000, pp. 70-71).

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    This debt is in itself crippling, butmuch of the aid does not go to the poorest countries5, while the debt for the 60 poorest countries

    in the world rose from $25 billion in 1970 to $523 billion in 2002 (Shah, 2005).6

    In Argentina, each person therefore owes $4,000 to the banks and institutions of the rich countries,

    while each Brazilian owes $1,300. This per capita debt expresses how some of the poorest people in

    the world are legally required to repay the debts of political leaders they neither elected nor wished

    for. It is not the Argentinean and Brazilian States who will repay the debt, but taxes collected from

    these people. In many cases elected leaders were even overthrown by the countries who now

    demand those repayments for aid given to the leaders they imposed upon that population. This, of

    course, places huge responsibility with the governments and institutions of the rich countries too,

    who not only profited from the exploitation of developing countries, but often directlycontributed.7 Debt has become so profitable that for every $1 given in aid over $25 is given back in

    debt repayments (Shah, 2010).

    Vulture Funds

    Aside from a heavily unfavourable trading system and crippling debts, the Jubilee campaign have

    noted the growing predatory behaviour of vulture funds companies buying debt cheaply and suing

    developing countries in Western courts for the full value. One of the most high profile cases

    involved Zambia, a country where 72.9% of the population lived below the $1 a day poverty-line in

    1998. Agricultural equipment and services were bought from Romania, on credit, but the country

    found itself unable to service the debt. In 1999 Zambia and Romania agreed to cancel the debt for

    $3.28 million. Donegal International, founded by Michael Sheehan, bought the debt before the

    agreement was finalised, and seven years later sued Zambia for the full $55 million value. According

    4The devaluation of currency, and a reduction in public spending, i.e. health and education, are common

    conditions imposed on countries by the IMF and World Bank when lending. The first is intended to bring

    exports and imports in line with the value of the currency, to facilitate growth, while the second is intended to

    ensure the country can repay its debt both are long-term solutions. Unfortunately, focus on such

    macroeconomic factors, as well as standardised policy with little or no proper investigation into the context of

    a country, has meant that the short-term pain for long-term growth has often turned into economic collapse.

    Health and education are themselves conditions for growth in developing countries, a healthy and qualified

    workforce is essential to any country, while high illiteracy rates will certainly not change by reducing funding in

    education (Stiglitz 2002 & 2006).5In 1988, net aid totalled $48 billion, 28% of which went to the least developed countries. By 1997 this figure

    was $50 billion, 27% of which went to the least developed countries (Potter, 2000, p.92).6

    J W Smith notes that compound interest accounts for nearly three-quarters of third world debt, the other

    quarter being actual money borrowed, debt service, etc. (Smith, 1994).7

    There are many examples of elected leaders in developing countries being overthrown, including the

    Nicaraguan government as later noted. In Chile, too, Salvador Allende was overthrown by a US-sponsored

    coup in 1973. General Pinochet took power and brought about a particularly violent and repressive regime.

    During the Cold War, however, his dedication to the free market and suppression of left-wing rebels, however

    unsavoury, represented geopolitical and economic interests for the US and UK and so this brutality was not

    only sponsored, but openly advocated by Western leaders (Chomsky, 2003).

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    to the Jubilee campaign Western courts are more sympathetic to creditors, and so Donegal went

    through the British High Court, who eventually awarded the company $15.4 million, 65% of what the

    country believed it was going to save from debt cancellation (Jubilee, 2008). Interestingly, Sheehans

    larger company, Debt Advisory International, were accused by the Zambian legal team, headed by

    Tony Blairs brother William Blair QC, of offering a $2 million bribe to the former Zambian President

    to make the vulture funds claim easier. Tellingly, the corporation also contributes $240,000 a yearto lobbying firms to give their interests greater weight in Washington (Palast & Goodman, 2007).

    For million-and-billionaires to establish companies which buy debt cheaply, suing the poorest

    countries in the world for debt others have promised to cancel seems very quickly to be, as British

    Prime Minister Gordon Brown described it, morally outrageous (Ibid). One of the most notorious

    names in the industry of vulture funds is billionaire Paul Singer. In 1996 his company bought

    discounted Peruvian debt for $11 million, later threatening to bankrupt the country if it didnt pay

    the full value of $58 million, a figure he received. More recently, he has sued the Republic of Congo,

    one of DR Congos neighbours, for $400 million, for a debt bought for just $10 million. Interestingly,

    Paul Singer was also the biggest individual contributor to George Bush, donating $1.7 million since

    Bushs first presidential campaign, also pledging $15 million to Rudy Giulianis campaign to be NewYork Mayor (Ibid).

    The clear indication, then, is that the global economic order is established in favour of the rich elite,

    who in a modern world are better able to manoeuvre themselves through complex legal systems

    and influence politics directly in coup attempts and assassinations, or more indirectly through

    lobbying and donations. The consequence, however, is poverty for most of the worlds population

    no hyperbole or exaggeration, given the dire conditions many people live through daily in their

    struggle for survival.

    There are, of course, many who are campaigning and fighting for a more just global system,

    including many in those countries who promised debt cancellation but couldnt foresee the actions

    of vulture funds or their own governments. However the very legal system which allowed this is the

    system which gave those countries their respective advantages and allowed them to exploit many

    developing countries. Perhaps Gordon Browns moral abhorrence towards such actions shows a

    growing consideration for changing the rules of the game, but for the moment those rules remain

    the same, and it was Britains own High Court which ruled in favour of Donegal International, to the

    detriment of the Zambian people.

    Conditions of Trade

    The conditions of trade which often accompany debt cancellation provide another sticking point.

    The IMF, for example, requires multiple conditions before accepting countries in their heavily

    indebted countries (HIDC) debt cancellation programme. Many of these conditions relate to

    removing barriers to trade, allowing foreign companies access to their domestic markets, while cut-

    backs in health and education are suggested, sometimes very forcefully, to cut back public spending

    and ensure countries can repay their loans (Stiglitz, 2002 & 2007). While sometimes successful in

    controlling inflation generally, the price of food and drugs has often increased, hitting the poorest

    hardest (Potter, 2000). The World Banks programme, too, uses conditions which focus on similar

    goals. The British government were highly prominent in these decisions, Gordon Brown stating that

    debt forgiveness would be given should the countries use the relief productively, arguing that both

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    the IMF and World Bank will show how together macroeconomic, structural growth and anti-poverty

    programmes can bring less poverty and more growth. However John Pilger notes that there is no

    example of macro-economic, structural reform programmes, i.e. laissez-faire capitalism, reducing

    mass poverty, instead only many examples to the contrary8 (Pilger, 2000).

    Clare Short, Secretary of State for International Development at the time, announced the untying

    of British aid from British companies, arguing it is unfair that poor countries must be restricted to

    dealing with British companies. Often the British government imposed the condition that when

    borrowing money developing countries must purchase goods only fromtheir companies, including

    goods for food and healthcare. Beyond the headlines, however, it was found that the Blair

    government was at the forefront of liberalising the entire procurement and contracting system in

    the third world, an industry worth $3 trillion, allowing multi-national corporations and the special

    interests to secure contracts inmany previously unavailablemarkets (Ibid). These business interests,

    attached to loans and other forms of aid, have been estimated to cost developing countries $350

    billion annually in trade (Potter, 2000). Debt and trade liberalisation, then, help create the unlevel

    playing field which Western governments and businesses have used to extract huge profits.9

    Shared Institutions

    On a practical level it is necessary to take a case-by-case study to assign responsibility for poverty.

    However if figures are correct, that $28 billion a year would provide basic education, water

    sanitation and nutrition for all people, this is clearly an achievable goal which the developed

    countries are partially responsible for, considering their profit from the current system (Shah, 2010).

    There is also, then, a need to reform the global trade system which, as Pogge notes, is built on unfair

    advantages from the initial existence of the State:

    Any group controlling a preponderance of the means of coercion within a country is

    internationally recognized as the legitimate government of this countrys territory and people

    regardless of how this group came to power, of how it exercises power, and of the extent towhich it may be supported or opposed b y the population it rules.(Pogge, 2002, p.112)

    He cites how the Saudis, Suharto and Mobutu, with access to credit, could finance their regimes.

    Additionally, owning the countrys resources, including the right to sell them to corporations and

    8The documentary Trade Rules are Nuts, for example, notes how Senegal and Mozambique were provided

    assistance, conditions of which were to reduce public spending, i.e. health and education, liberalise markets

    and privatisation. Senegal and Mozambiques growing industries collapsed under the weight of foreign

    competition, a regular occurrence former World Bank Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz notes for the hypocrisy

    of the double-standards of such institutions imposing these conditions. The US and Europe, for example, have

    some of the highest subsidies and tariffs in the world, making it impossible for developing countries to

    compete (Jane 2002, Stiglitz 2002 &2006)9 It has been estimated that trade liberalisation benefits only those countries with per capita incomes above

    $10,000, often severely damaging others who are forced to compete on an unfair playing field. In one example

    of calculated hypocrisy, the US offered to open their markets to 97% of developing countries goods during

    WTO negotiations. Although it looks good as a headline, the details show the number was specifically chosen

    to exclude all those competitive foreign goods, for example Bangladeshi textiles, while Bangladesh would be

    free to export jet engines and similar goods it is incapable of producing, in order to protect Americanmarkets

    (Potter, 2000).

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    governments, buyers are recognized anywhere in the world as the legitimate owner of these

    resources (Ibid, p.113). This international resource privilege helps maintain the rule of such

    leaders, and Pogge therefore assigns responsibility to those profiting from this system.

    Nagel, however, argues that the coercive nature of the State exists domestically. In this sense,justice

    is a requirement only of the State, precisely because of its coercive element: Justice is concerned

    with the relations between the conditions of different classes of people, and the causes of inequality

    between them (Nagel, 2005, p.119). Therefore, The right to justice is the right that the society one

    lives in bejustly governed (Ibid, p.132). The issue with such an argument, however, is that it applies

    only to the independent State. No modern State has evolved without the interference of others. In

    particular, the right to a justly governed society has frequently been abused by external States, thus

    assigning them some responsibility for the subsequent poverty.

    Beginning with the injustice of colonialism, poverty is directly caused by the decisions of unjust

    leaders, often established by developed countries. Demands for justice, then, exist internationally

    in such cases. Mobutu is one noted example, but Pogge also cites Suharto, the only leader of the

    twentieth century considered more corrupt than Mobutu.10 With plenty of other examples, including

    Western-sponsored dictators throughout Africa, Asia and Latin America, there are serious questions

    of accountability (Chomsky, 2003 & 2007, & Hebditch and Connor 2005). Even the World Court have

    sided with developing countries on occasion, but the sheer power of the US, UK, and others,

    including their veto power in the UN and permanence in the Security Council, postpone or overrule

    their decisions.11

    The Benefits of Globalisation

    Some argue, however, that there are many benefits to the global economic order. They suggest that

    the industrialisation of developing countries would not have occurred without such external

    intervention and, while poverty may exist, advancements in healthcare and education have meant

    many more do not. Risse, therefore, asks whether it is the feat of our global civilization that

    34,000 children die daily of preventable causes, or that many more than this number do not (Risse,

    2005). More detailed statistics suggest a lower number of deaths, improving the point that

    advancements in medicines have eliminated many diseases, and countries have access to

    technologies and resources which would otherwise be impossible. Such an argument is reinforced by

    an unlikely source, as even Karl Marx acknowledged that British rule inIndia would bring enhanced

    10The coercion Suharto exerted over the Indonesians was directly funded by British and American

    governments, Margaret Thatcher notably called him one of our very best and important friends (Pilger,

    2008), while President Nixon, due to the countrys natural resources, geopolitics and business opportunities,

    described Indonesia as the greatest prize in South-East Asia (Pilger, 1993, p.244). After supporting his coup,

    the CIA provided Suharto with a list of suspected communists, a list he used to kill up to one million people.11

    In Nicaragua, for example, the US-backed Somoza dictatorship had been overthrown by the people. The

    newly elected Nicaraguan government was even lauded by Amnesty International and the Inter-American

    Development Bank for social and economic progress respectively. However US interests were threatened and

    the CIA feared a backlash in other South American countries, as Nicaragua had overthrown the US-backed

    government to achieve such feats. They subsequently embarked on a terrorist bombing campaign which killed

    1% of the population in an attempt to force the country to accept help from the Soviets, giving a pretext for

    direct invasion. Instead, Nicaragua appealed to the World Court for help, and were awarded $17 billion

    compensation, but this legal process was never completed as the US stepped up its campaign and overthrew

    the Nicaraguan government (Chomsky, 2003).

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    transport and trade opportunities, in themselves leading to greater development and

    industrialisation as the British realised that the transformation ofIndia into a reproductive country

    [had] a vital importance to them (Marx, 1853).

    There is a limit to such benefits, however. Previous evidence has suggested that while many

    countries have had access to greater technology and industrialisation, their own populations have

    suffered. Many still have no access to such technologies precisely because they cannot afford it.

    Indeed Marx later noted that The Indians themselves will not reap the fruits of the new elements of

    society, and with more people in poverty than any other country, this seems accurate (Ibid). These

    limits suggest that poverty reduction could be greater and have occurred much earlier without

    special interests dominating the financial system. Risses question, How does the global order harm

    the poor? is clearly answered inmany cases, and despite some improvements for a few, the vast

    majority have suffered as a result of that order.

    Responsibility

    To assign specific responsibility requires a case-by-case study of each country. General trends,

    though, have made huge impacts on the lives ofmillions, ifnot billions, of people, while for a smallminority the global order has provided a platform to great riches. This platform has seemingly been

    built onmany of the poorest people, but reforming the global order would also benefit the middle-

    classes. For example, the British government subsidise their arms industry nearly 900 million per

    year, roughly 13,000 per job. Eliminating such subsidies would save tax-payers money and, more

    importantly in the agricultural and healthcare industries, would also provide cheaper necessary

    goods (Thomas, 2006).

    Corruption, lack of infrastructure, mismanagement and similar causes are certainly to blamefor a

    large amount of poverty; however these are symptoms, and are themselves a result of the actions of

    political and economic elites. Globalisation has led to greater levels of inequality and insecurity in

    the world, only the richest have consistently benefited, whilst wealth has predictably failed to

    trickle-down (Stiglitz, 2002). Responsibility lies with everyone who plays some role in this system,

    not just because of the exploitation of past policies and the benefits we enjoy as a result, but also

    because we can help others without harming ourselves.

    Peter Singer suggests morality demands we help a child should we see them drowning nearby

    (Singer, 1972).12 Singer contends that it shouldnt matter if the child is in front of us or millions of

    miles away. As Nagel suggests, Humanitarian duties hold in virtue of the absolute rather than the

    relative level ofneed (Nagel, 2005, p.119), but with the right to a justly governed society itself

    globalised, justice is now a global issue. Responsibility for alleviating poverty is shared across the

    developed countries, who continue to benefit from the poverty of entire regions. Governments,

    multinational corporations, and organisations such as the IMF and World Bank have all had a hand in

    both causing global poverty. They also have the power to change that situation, and so long as they

    12Originally the case-study of the Chinese Philosopher Mozi. He used it to show that everyone has a

    fundamental sprout of goodness, and that it was external forces which corrupted each persons innate path to

    goodness. In a modern context, this idea suggests that it is the lack of direct information and similar reasons

    which cause us to overlook the suffering of people from other countries. With the proper knowledge and

    evidence we would therefore help (Mozi, 2001).

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    remain accountable to the populations they serve, it is the responsibility of those citizens to demand

    no more children drown, starve, or die from preventable illness in their name.

    Word Count: 3,621

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