Please note: Currently "From Poverty to Power" is Out of Stock but On Order
New stock is scheduled to be available for despatch on 10 December.
Orders placed with be put on backorder until the new stock arrives.

How Active Citizens and Effective States Can Change the World

From Poverty to Power is essential reading for anyone involved in change processes around the world. A new take on development for the 21st century, Oxfam International's new book provides critical insights into the massive human and economic costs of inequality and poverty and proposes realistic solutions.

From Poverty to Power contributes to an urgent and fast-changing debate about development. The book argues that a radical redistribution of power, opportunities, and assets is needed to break the cycle of inequality and poverty, and that this change can be achieved through a combination of active citizens and effective states.

Why active citizenship? Because people living in poverty must have a voice in deciding their own destiny, fighting for rights and justice in their own society, and holding states and the private sector to account.

Why effective states? Because history shows that no country has prospered without a state structure than can actively manage the development process.

The book's analysis draws on the experience of Oxfam and its partners in more than 100 countries around the world, as well as on extensive discussions with development professionals.

Praise for From Poverty to Power
In telling us what can be achieved by ordinary people through organized action, this book generates hope even as it enhances understanding of what is involved in the removal of poverty. The world does need hope as well as the know-how, and we have reason to be grateful for what we get from this important study of a rich collection of collaborative social action.
- Amartya Sen, economist and Nobel Prize winner

Oxfam's great strength is that it channels the moral outrage that global poverty evokes into effective action based on solid research. Green's new book is a comprehensive look at development in this tradition. Read it so you can understand why development requires not just effective governments, but also active citizens; not just good policies, but also good politics, not just local action, but global cooperation as well.
- Dani Rodrik, Professor of International Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Tells us what we must do in the limited time we have to prevent a human and ecological tragedy that will affect, in one way or another, each and every one of us.
- Larry Elliott, Economics Editor, The Guardian

Oxfam has a high reputation for books which combine careful and objective analysis with deep empathy for the poorest people on the planet. This one is no exception. Duncan Green’s focus on global inequality brings into the open a moral challenge and a practical issue which is all too often ignored. He tells us that the world needs both active citizens and effective states – a simple phrase but one which requires significant change in both rich and poor countries. This is a readable and relevant text.
- Simon Maxwell, Director, Overseas Development Institute

Published by Oxfam International June 2008; author: Duncan Green; foreword by Amartya Sen. 522 pages. paperback.