Article
Subsidiarity and Global Poverty: Development from Below Upwards
Vincentian Heritage (Special Issue on Vincentian Higher Education and Poverty Reduction)
(2008)
Abstract
In early November of 2007 DePaul University hosted the 14th annual International Vincentian Business Ethics conference which addressed the topic of globalization and poverty. As a Catholic, Vincentian University it is quite fitting that DePaul would host such a conference. But, poverty studies are nothing new to many universities; in fact Chicago is home to the Joint Center for Poverty Research, a collaborative endeavor between Northwestern University and the University of Chicago, which has been examining pover- ty-related issues since 1996. if some, or even many, universities engage in poverty studies, is there anything unique about such endeavors at a Catholic, Vincentian University in light of its mission and/or heritage? Beneath the surface of engaging in poverty studies in any capacity, however, some approaches may be more attuned to a Catholic, Vincentian mission than others. Thus, there remains an important question: what does the Catholic, Vincentian heritage have to offer poverty studies at a university that values its mission?
To address this challenge, I will examine three perspectives on poverty alleviation: the first from a contemporary debate between two popular development economists; the second from the principle of subsidiarity from Catholic social teaching; and the third from the legacy of Frederick Ozanam. I Will conclude by identifying several exciting contemporary approaches that are particularly suited to the study of poverty alleviation at a Catholic, Vincentian University.
Keywords
- Economic development,
- poverty alleviation,
- Catholic social thought
Publication Date
2008
Citation Information
Scott Kelley. "Subsidiarity and Global Poverty: Development from Below Upwards" Vincentian Heritage (Special Issue on Vincentian Higher Education and Poverty Reduction) Vol. 28 Iss. 2 (2008) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/scott_kelley/5/