About this blog

This is meant to be a conversation, a chance to compare notes on the ideas in the book and how they apply (or don’t) to future events and debates. (Though I have to admit that it’s also a form of therapy – what the authors of ‘Freakonomics’ call the ‘perfect antidote for that sickening feeling of being dead in the water once a manuscript has been completed’….)

The blog will include regular contributions from me, prompted by events, or things I read, or the debates that emerge at numerous book launches, seminars and the like. But it will only work if others get involved – that makes the difference between this being a real discussion, and a barren cyberspace version of those demented souls on soapboxes, ranting away to a non-existent audience at Hyde Park’s ‘speakers’ corner’ in London.

So let us know what you think, what issues you want to discuss, and what you like/don’t like about the book. From Poverty to Power emerged as a big conversation, involving hundreds of people within and outside Oxfam, and we are determined to make sure that conversation continues, as we grapple with the big issues of development – climate change, the role of science and tech, power and politics. This could be fun…

The blog is written and maintained by Duncan Green. More information on Duncan and the book is available on the From Poverty to Power website