The divide : global inequality from conquest to free markets /
More than four billion people, some sixty percent of humanity, live in debilitating poverty, on less than $5 per day. The standard narrative tells us this crisis is a natural phenomenon, having to do with climate, geography and culture. It tells us all we have to do is give aid to help poor countrie...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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New York :
W.W. Norton & Company,
[2018]
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| Edition: | First American edition. |
| Subjects: |
| Summary: | More than four billion people, some sixty percent of humanity, live in debilitating poverty, on less than $5 per day. The standard narrative tells us this crisis is a natural phenomenon, having to do with climate, geography and culture. It tells us all we have to do is give aid to help poor countries up the development ladder. If poor countries would only adopt the right institutions and economic policies, they could join the ranks of the rich world. Anthropologist Jason Hickel argues that this story ignores the broader political forces at play. Global poverty and the growing inequality between the rich countries of Europe and North America and the poor ones of Africa, Asia and South America has come about because the global economy has been designed over the course of five centuries to favor the interests of the most powerful nations. Global inequality is not natural, inevitable or accidental. To close the divide, Hickel proposes dramatic action rooted in real justice, including abolishing debt burdens in the global South, democratizing the institutions of global governance and rolling out an international minimum wage, among other steps. Only then will we have a chance at a world built on equal footing. |
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| Item Description: | "First published [in 2017] by The Random House Group Ltd in Great Britain under the title The Divide : A Brief Guide to Global Inequality and its Solutions"--Title page verso. |
| Physical Description: | 344 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780393651362 0393651363 |