The Poverty of Theory

Abstract

This article examines the theories of poverty and the poverty of theory. It first explains why theory in general is both necessary and problematic in this context. It then discusses how liberal theories in particular dominate post-Cold War poverty law, as shown in three major legal instruments. It introduces other theories of poverty, those of liberalism's discontents, which are absent from post-Cold War poverty law. In addition, the article explains why theory itself is impoverished in two distinct senses.