Expanding, Not Shrinking Social Programmes: The Politics of New Policies to Tackle Poverty and Inequality in Brazil, India, China and South Africa

当西方人全神贯注于经济危机和由此导致的社会项目收缩时，一个关键的反趋势在很大程度上被媒体和大多数研究人员所忽视。这是近年来四个新兴大国——巴西、印度、中国和南非——政府为解决贫困和不平等问题所做努力的显著增加。这个项目将分析发生了什么，为什么这是可能的，以及政府如何在这四个国家中实现这一目标。这四个国家加起来几乎占人类的一半，并越来越多地设定国际议程。然后，该项目将系统地比较这四个案例，以深入了解这一总体趋势。这项研究将由四个跨学科的国家专家小组进行，他们也具有很强的比较技能。每个国家团队都有一名参与政策过程的分析师，从“内部”提供见解，并帮助将项目的发现传达给“现实世界”中的其他“用户”，无论是在他们的国家还是在他们的国家之外。总共有17名研究人员，其中9名来自被研究的国家。他们的发现将对研究单个发展中国家的学者以及专门研究比较研究或全球趋势的学者有用。他们还将有助于将项目与政府、国际机构和民间社会组织等其他“用户”联系起来。两个联合国机构是该项目的伙伴，它们将协助向所有三类的“用户”提出调查结果。许多研究人员都与这四个国家内外的所有三种机构进行了广泛的合作。该项目将特别关注高级政治家，因为他们通常做出大多数关键的政策决定。在许多此类主题的技术官僚研究中，政治家被不明智地忽略或边缘化。这个项目也将侧重于政治，因为它对政策制定有强有力的影响。技术官僚研究通常会推荐一些计划，这些计划在理论上将政策与政治隔离开来——因为他们认为政治总是具有破坏性的。但这是不可能实现的——政治无处不在。而且已经有大量证据表明，政治有时可以成为一种建设性的力量。这四个国家的领导人都加大了解决贫困和不平等问题的力度，这在很大程度上是出于政治原因。他们认为，这将提高他们的知名度和合法性，符合他们的利益。有大量的证据表明他们是正确的。本项目将详尽地探讨这个问题。如果研究表明，解决贫困和不平等问题的社会项目在政治上确实对发起人有利，那么该项目将大力宣传这一发现——因为如果其他发展中国家的领导人认识到这一点，他们将更倾向于效仿。

While people in the West have been preoccupied with the economic crisis and the resulting contraction in social programmes, a crucial counter-trend has been largely overlooked by the media and by most researchers. This is the marked increase in recent years in government efforts to tackle poverty and inequality in four Rising Powers -- Brazil, India, China and South Africa. This project will analyse what has happened, why it was possible, and how governments accomplished it in each of the four countries -- which together contain nearly half of humankind, and increasingly set the international agenda. The project will then systematically compare the four cases to gain insight into this overall trend. The research will be conducted by four interdisciplinary teams of country specialists who also have strong comparative skills. Each country team contains an analyst who has participated in the policy process -- to offer insights from 'inside', and to help convey the project's findings to other 'users' in the 'real world' -- in and beyond their countries. There are 17 researchers in all, 9 of whom come from the countries being studied. Their findings will be of use to scholars who study individual developing countries, plus those who specialise in comparative studies or global trends. They will also be helpful in connecting the project to other 'users' -- in governments, international agencies, and civil society organisations. Two United Nations agencies are partners in the project, and they will assist in placing findings before 'users' in all three categories. Many of the researchers have worked extensively with all three types of institutions -- in and beyond these four countries. The project will pay special attention to senior politicians because they usually make most of the key policy decisions. Politicians have been unwisely omitted or marginalised in many technocratic studies of such themes. This project will also focus on politics because it is a potent influence on policy making. Technocratic studies often recommend programmes which will theoretically insulate policy from politics -- because they see politics as invariably destructive. But that is impossible to achieve -- politics is ubiquitous. And there is substantial evidence already in hand to show that politics can at times be a constructive force. In all four of these countries, leaders have intensified efforts to address poverty and inequality in large measure for political reasons. They believed that it would serve their interests by enhancing their popularity and legitimacy. There is plenty of evidence to show that they were correct. This project will explore that issue exhaustively. If it shows that social programmes which address poverty and inequality are indeed politically advantageous to those who introduce them, then the project will publicise that finding vigorously -- because if leaders in other developing countries recognise that, they will become more inclined to follow suit.