This document presents an exploratory contribution to the understanding of the political economy of poverty alleviation. Usually, governmental decisions to apply macroeconomic measures that minimise the negative effects of adjustment on the poor, or to implement programmes specifically aimed at...

Korpi and Palme's (1998) classic "The Paradox of Redistribution and Strategies of Equality" claims that universal social policy better reduces poverty than social policies targeted at the poor. This article revisits Korpi and Palme’s classic, and in the process, explores and informs a set of...