World Poverty and the Duty of Assistance

Conference Timetable 

World poverty presents us with pressing moral and political questions about the nature of our duties towards those who are in need. Are the moral claims of the distant needy identical to those of people in need who are within our own personal circle of acquaintance or who belong to our own political community? How should we apportion the responsibility for meeting the claims of those in need among private individuals, national and global political institutions, and global actors like non-profit organizations and multinational corporations?  What is the comparative desirability of different ways of meeting the claims of those in need? The conference ‘World Poverty and the Duty of Assistance’ aims to bring together moral and political philosophers, social scientists, and development practitioners to discuss these issues, in a way that is accessible to the general public. The proceedings of the conference will be published in The Philosophers' Magazine.

Professor Jonathan Glover
“Poverty, Distance and Two Dimensions of Ethics”

Prof. Glover is Director of the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics at King's College London. He is the author of several books on ethics, including Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century; Women and Development: a study of capacities (edited with Martha Nussbaum); Utilitarianism and Its Critics (editor); Causing Death and Saving Lives; and Responsibility.

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Professor David Miller 
“Who is responsible for global poverty?”

Prof. Miller’s is a Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. His main interest is contemporary political theory, especially theories of justice and equality, the ethics of market economies, and the concepts of nationality and citizenship. He is the author of several books in political philosophy, including On Nationality; Market, State, and Community; and Pluralism, Justice, and Equality. He is currently writing a book called ‘National Responsibility and Global Justice’, criticizing current cosmopolitan views on global justice.

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David Mepham responds to Professor Miller

David Mepham is Associate Director and responsible for international affairs at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). A new IPPR report, Putting our house in order – recasting G8 policy towards Africa, was published in February 2005. Before joining IPPR, David Mepham worked for the Department of International Development (DFID).

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Professor Jan Breman
“Looking at poverty in a village in India for half a century”

Professor Breman (Amsterdam School for Social Science Research) carried out anthropological fieldwork in India (Gujarat) and Indonesia (Java) mainly focusing on rural and urban employment and labour relations. He also conducted historical research on the same themes in both countries. Some of his recent publications : The World View of Industrial Labour in India (Sage Press, 2000); Down and Out, Labouring under Colonial Capitalism (Oxford University Press, New Dehli, 2000) ; Good Times and Bad Times in Rural Java (KITLV-Leiden 2002), The Labouring Poor in India (Oxford University Press 2003) and The making and unmaking of an industrial working class in India; Sliding Down the Labour Hierarchy in Ahmedabad (Oxford University Press 2003)

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Dr. Linda Yueh is Fellow in Economics at Pembroke College, University of Oxford, and is also appointed to the Department of Economics, London School of Economics and Political Science. Active affiliations include the Globalisation programme at the Centre for Economic Performance at LSE, the Asia Research Centre at LSE, Queen Elizabeth House at Oxford University, and the Economist Intelligence Unit Executive Briefing Advisory Board. Trained as an economist and lawyer, Dr. Yueh had practiced international corporate law while resident in New York, Beijing, and Hong Kong. Her areas of expertise include the Chinese economy, international law and economic growth. China's economic growth is an ongoing interest, particularly its reform path. Dr. Yueh is Series Editor for the Economic Development and Growth book series for World Scientific Press. She is a frequent commentator on economic issues in the media.

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Paul Collier is Professor of Economics, Director of CSAE, Professorial Fellow, St Antony College, Oxford. He works on a wide range of macroeconomic, microeconomic and political economy topics concerned with Africa. Within macroeconomics he has focused on external shocks, exchange rate and trade policies. He has just completed the first ever external review of IMF operations for the Board of the IMF (with Professors Gunning and Hamada, and Dr. Botchwey). Within microeconomics he has focused on labour and financial markets, and on rural development, on which he has written three books and many articles. Within political economy, he has worked on the process of policy reform, and has also published a series of articles on `restraining the state'. He is currently researching the transition from civil war. He is a Professor Associate of CERDI, Université d'Auvergne; Fellow of the CEPR, London; and was Director of the Development Research group at the World Bank (from April 1998 to April 2003). He holds a Distinction Award from Oxford University, and has won the Edgar Graham Prize.

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Ekwow Spio-Garbrah (1953 - ) is a citizen of Ghana and currently the CEO of The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) based in London. He is one of Africa's pre-eminent civil servants, and an authority on mass communications who has held several high profile positions in the field. He is a former Minister of Communication of the Republic of Ghana, one-time Ambassador of Ghana to the United States and Mexico, Minister of Education, Minister responsible for Mines and Energy and a member of UNESCO's Executive Board in Paris. He served in the cabinet during the democratic regime of Jerry John Rawlings between 1994 and 2000. Before his appointment at the CTO, he was Chief Executive of his own business consulting firm, Spio-Garbrah & Associates, based in Ghana.

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Leif Wenar gives concluding remarks

Leif Wenar's work is in political, moral, and legal philosophy. His research is currently focused on:

1) The theory of rights – that is, what rights are, and how we should think about which rights there are. In pursuing this general theory he is writing on specific topics such as the justification for the right to free expression, the nature of private property, the value of copyright, and the correct specification of the Hohfeldian analytical framework.

2) Normative issues in international relations, such as the debate between statist and cosmopolitan approaches to global political theory, the correct principles for assigning responsibility for responding to severe poverty, and human rights conceived as criteria for the legitimate use of political power.

3) The philosophy of John Rawls, especially Political Liberalism and The Law of Peoples, and how the major works together form a unified theory.

He has published widely on these topics and is also completing a study of accountability in international development aid.

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