Getting the “basics”? The World Bank’s narrative construction of poverty reduction in China
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Varga, Mihai [1]
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[1] Institute of East-European Studies (OEI), Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
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- Localización: Land use policy: The International Journal Covering All Aspects of Land Use, ISSN 0264-8377, ISSN-e 1873-5754, Nº. 120, 2022
- Idioma: inglés
- Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
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Resumen
An important share of worldwide poverty reduction since the 1970s is due to China’s decrease in rural poverty. This article asks how has this extraordinary story of success traveled beyond East Asia, and in particular how the World Bank reflected it. Building on studies of policy narratives, it shows how the Bank has since the 1990s constructed a perspective that aligns China with its broader depiction of “pro-market” East Asia. It downplays the role of the state as subsidizer and buyer of poor people’s production and reduces Chinese policies to their land reform component, which then becomes the basis of policy advice extended to transitioning and African countries. The article’s main contribution is showing the constitution of a development narrative spanning two decades and reaching the form of an extremely concise and therefore increasingly ubiquitous statement about a "liberalizing China" and the poverty-reducing and market-conforming effect of land reform alone.
