INEQUALITY TRAP AND THE FOUNDATIONAL MECHANISMS OF DURABLE POVERTY

Désiré Louis NIZIGIYIMANA

Abstract

Inequality has been for long a neglected dimension in theories of development. Yet, in contemporary social and political research, evidence has increasingly emerged in support of the causal interconnections between inequality of opportunities and durable poverty. Such evidence can be observed through an analysis of phenomena such as inequality trap. Yet, the sociopolitical phenomenon of inequality trap, which is essentially defined and conceptualized on the basis of mechanisms which link inequality of opportunities to durable deprivation among groups of people, has remained largely underexplored. In this paper, j‟ explore the basic features of the phenomenon of inequality trap and the conditions which sustain mechanisms which link inequality of opportunities to durable poverty, and argue that inequality trap does not only explain how poverty may persist among some socioeconomic groups of people (even in wealthy societies), it also allows to contextualize the conditions which generate and sustain mechanisms which stabilize poverty; hence allowing to uncover the psychological and the distributional dimensions of durable poverty. This combination of factors sustaining durable deprivation has been largely overlooked in contemporary social and political theorizing. The analysis of durable poverty on basis of its sustaining mechanisms open up innovative grounds for contextualizing and conceptualizing strategies for advancing distributive justice in real life scenarios, facing poverty and promoting inclusive development.