The Shifting Politics of Poverty Reduction in Honduras

• In Event: Dimensions of Social Policy in Latin America

Abstract

The rise of the new Left has had an important impact on the politics of poverty reduction in Central America, especially in Honduras. Massive increases in aid flows to Honduras after Hurricane Mitch in 1998, and the introduction of a Poverty Reduction Strategy from 1999 intensified international pressure to focus on poverty. From 2006, the availability of aid and other resources from Venezuela facilitated a definitive break with donor-sponsored agendas and heralded a new phase in the politics of poverty reduction. The shift left has further tested the strength of democratic institutions in Honduras, yet this cases have been comparatively under-researched in the context of left-wing politics in the region.
This paper will examine the shifting politics of poverty reduction by situating the Honduran experience in the contemporary debates around the new Left in Latin America. Comparing these new dynamics to the politics of Poverty Reduction Strategies in Honduras from 1999 to 2006 will address a gap in the literature and allow an examination of the changing prospects for democracy, and for poverty reduction. A relational analytical approach will be used to examine shifting political dynamics in response to changing external ideas and influences. This approach sees state-society relations as central to the politics of poverty reduction, and explores how relations of power amongst organised social groups shapes the performance of public institutions.

Author

• Sarah J Hunt, University of Manchester