"....The task is to form a new kind of capitalism with smaller inequalities both globally and within individual societies as well, in which real economy is not subordinated to the financial sector, where SME’s providing job opportunities have access to investment resources just as much as large corporations, where the peripheries are provided real chances for development, and in which more labour-intensive and resource-saving means of production provide solution for unemployment and poverty."
On the dawn of the 21st century, about half of the Earth’s six billion inhabitants are living in poverty, on 2 dollars a day. Deep poverty is accompanied by chronic hunger as well as famines incurring in the wake of wars and natural catastrophes. Read more »
The food crisis of 2007-2008, affecting over forty countries worldwide, acted as a wake up call. It reminded the international community that – in accordance with the founding principles of food sovereignty- thriving localized food systems are essential in ensuring the food security of local populations in the face of severe food supply shocks. Read more »
Transition is an idea which has grabbed peoples’ imagination, empowered them, and helped channel energy into progressive community action for community resilience in the face of climate change and peak oil. Read more »
Though fuel poverty (i.e., the inability to afford adequate energy services for the household) is a concept to be framed in more general considerations about poverty and deprivation, there are several reasons to detach it from the common struggle of families to make ends meet. Some key distinctive features of this phenomenon as identified in the literature are: Read more »
This paper provides a brief overview of Hungarian international development cooperation (IDC). After a short introduction into the history, legal context, institutional setup and the system of bi- and multilateral Hungarian development cooperation the main weaknesses and possible solutions are discussed. The main problems include the lack of sufficient funding (worsened by the practice of aid inflation), aid ineffectiveness, a weak legal and institutional background and the lack of coherence between different policy areas affecting poverty. Read more »
Democratisation, development, civil society
Zsolt Boda
We are going to examine the connections between the three concepts. First we make an attempt at interpreting the relationship between democracy and development, and quickly look at the arguments which are based on the assumption that there is some cause and effect relationship between the two. The basic question is, of course, which definition of democracy or development we take as a starting point. For a start, we accept that development is one with economic growth, but the next step is to discuss development as a more complex social phenomenon – this, of course, will have consequences on the question of its relationship with democracy. In a normative approach we can safely argue that democracy itself is part of the concept of social development and in this case it does not make sense to look for cause and effect relationships between the two phenomena. Read more »
We are promoting a development that aims to reach a sustainable, just and fair world where basic human needs are provided for all and where hunger and excessive poverty no longer exist. The globalized world we would like to see respects human rights and maintains the participation of everyday people in decision-making. It rediscovers the value of local contexts and redifines the role of uncontrollable transnational institutions and companies, aiming at an equal and just world where not only the possibility but also the means are given to all to reach quality lives. Read more
