The politics of staying poor: exploring the political space for poverty reduction in Uganda

Despite claims that Uganda's recent success in poverty reduction has been significantly related to “getting the politics right,” there are concerns that the poorest may not have benefited from this form of poverty reduction or the types of politics that have helped shape it. Employing the analytical framework of political space reveals that although some of the poorest groups are represented within the political system, political discourse reveals a strong bias toward the “economically active,” leaving the poorest excluded from poverty programs. Significantly, there is an increasing divergence between the regime's political project of “modernization” and the international poverty agenda, with important implications for the poorest.