Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / ABSTRACT It is estimated that there are currently 3.9 million people living in urban poverty in Thailand, without the existence of an effective social assistance safety-net. This thesis presents an analysis of Thai governments’ urban poverty alleviation policy. The central aim of the thesis is to question whether Thai government policy on urban poverty alleviation can be effective for the poor and the poorest in urban slum communities. Qualitative methods are used, supported by documentary research, and the author’s own experience of being a community development worker and researcher in the urban slums of Thailand over a period of 18 years. I have endeavoured to elicit information from the range of stakeholders engaged with contemporary urban poverty alleviation policy in Bangkok. Thus the research includes the perspectives of policy makers, the poor, and the poorest. I distinguish between these latter two groups by describing those who have access to some government provision for the urban poor and those who are excluded from such provision. I interviewed 18 policy makers, 15 community savings groups committee members, and 65 of the excluded poorest. I investigated the development of policy relating to the urban poor through an analysis of key government reports and documents. I examined all of the government policy documents relating to policies for urban poverty alleviation and the Thai Governments’ five year National Economic and (later) Social Development Plans from 1961 to 2006. I also analysed each of the fifty four Government statements on their policies to the National Assembly covering this period. This research produced two major new vehicles for understanding and interpreting Thai government urban poverty alleviation policy. First, the policy document research enabled me to construct a critical account of the historical development of policy relating to the urban poor, particularly those in slum communities. Second, the interviews produced a unique view of the often desperate lives lived by some Thai citizens who are part of communities residing in what is estimated as 2,000 slums in Thailand. This view is seen through the eyes of both the urban poor and the policy makers. I found attitudes of the policy makers towards the urban poor contain a number of diverse stances, both negative and positive. The Government’s preferred way of helping, previously by housing improvements, and recently by promoting credit and loan schemes with a low interest rate to strengthen community-based organisations and emphasise self-reliance, does help some of the poor; it also excludes others. An important discussion in the thesis is about self-reliance. This is widely referred to by all stakeholders-from HM The King, through leading thinkers including Buddhist scholars, to the poorest in the slum communities. I analyse what such a concept means to each of these groups. I have found there may be little agreement, either on what is being spoken about, or what the implications of self-reliance are for helping Thailand’s poorest citizens. The thesis is also concerned with how to improve the situations of the poor. There is therefore a review of some curricula relating to the training of social/community workers to assess how well students are prepared for their work. The conclusions make some practical recommendations for change at a policy level, via civil society, and in professional education. The direct education and training of the poor is seen as crucial to any substantial improvements. My own experience, producing the thesis in a western country, is included throughout. This is in order to reflect on my learning and the challenges of researching within and outside the Thai social structure.

Thesis (M.P.H.M.)--Mahidol University, 2000.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-122) and index.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-122) and index.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, DEpartment of English. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (D. Min.)--Catholic Theological Union at Chicago, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 118-122) and index.

Thesis (M.Soc.Sc. Psychology)--University of Waikato, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 82-94)

The theme of this diploma thesis is "The Poverty in the Developing World", the poverty that not only less developed countries mainly in Africa, Asia and Latin America suffer from, but developed countries that are trying to help the developing world suffer from it as well. How much is that help important and what kind of help is crucial for the developed countries, that is the main subject of this thesis. The theoretical part is based on the available economic theories that solve the vicious circle of poverty in which these countries are trapped. Leading economists mentioned in the theoretical part are Thomas Malthus, whose study was one of the first, then Thomas Merrick, Albert Hirschman, and many others. The practical part deals with three countries, which connect the African continent - Somalia, Angola and Botswaa. Each of these countries is currently in a different situation, but their initial conditions were the same - the hole in the vicious circle of poverty. The conclusion of this work is a prediction of the future development of these countries and recommendations what direction they should go.

This study aims to contribute to the poverty studies in Turkey in terms of the capability approach introduced to the scientific literature by Nobel Laureate thinker Amartya Sen. The approach is closely connected with the idea of justice and particularly with the Rawls&rsquo / s model of social justice. This study&rsquo / s perception of justice is based on the idea that justice is the virtue of the institutions, but not that of individuals. Although the Rawls&rsquo / s justice analysis is approved in terms of making institutional analysis, his perception regarding to the rights are criticized since these are perceived as &ldquo / ends&rdquo / but not the &ldquo / means&rdquo / of individuals&rsquo / welfare. Therefore, it is claimed in this study that holding certain sets of rights are not significant by themselves, but how they can be converted into personal wellbeing is crucial as well. In this framework, poverty is considered as capability deprivation and it is claimed that poverty analyses based on commodity ownership are not satisfactory. As the case of this study, General Directorate of Social Assistance and Solidarity organized as the main state institution so as to alleviate the poverty in Turkey has been chosen and the question of whether the relief programs of the institution are designed to alleviate poverty by enhancing individuals&rsquo / capabilities is raised. It has been concluded in this study that (1) income centred poverty perception of the institution does not take into account the variations in needs, (2) the reliefs are designed to increase economic productivity of individuals but not the valuable capabilities and (3) the operational logic of the institution is based on managing poverty, but not alleviating it.

Through the globalization of economy, alleviating poverty has become one of the pivotal issues within social policy arrangement agendas for many countries all over the world. One of the primary and rifest instruments of the alleviation process is social assistance programs. It is an apodictic fact that the proportion of social assistance disbursements within general budgets of the states have been gradually increasing during the recent years. This situation is also true for Turkey. In this context, to what extent citizens steer away from poverty as the result of all these assistances and to what extent social assistance programs are effective on reproduction of poverty becomes a major question. . The basic objective of this study is to search for and understand the impact of social assistances provided by the state in Turkey on behalf of reducing the poverty conditions of the beneficiaries. The study is based upon a qualitative analysis of semi-structured interviews with beneficiaries of Altindag Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundation in Ankara, Turkey. As a result of the study, it is observed that even though distributed assistances are found insufficient by beneficiaries, they have some significant impacts on reduction of poverty. It is understood that the distribution process itself reveals some key problems of the social assistance program of the state such as inefficient defition of poverty and the poor and creating a feeling of dependency for the beneficiaries. The socio-economic factors creating poverty of the beneficiaries are not well defined in Turkey. . In line with this finding one striking inference is that the assistances may cause a kind of culture of poverty for a group of beneficiaries. Besides, assistance may have more impact on women&rsquo / s poverty as the women beneficiaries have a higher tendency to identify social assistance as a vital part of their survival while men beneficiaries identify social assistance as support to family. In terms of cash and /or goods transfers the beneficiaries identified transfers of coal, food and cash as very effective and essential for their survival, though the amount especially of cash transfers was less than required. All in all, as a concrete policy suggestion social assistance programs in both cash and in goods are effective for the reduction of poverty of the poor groups however it is not a total solution to create a take-off effect for the beneficiaries out of their poverty condition. The thesis suggests that social assistance programs should be improved in terms of accessibility and defition of poverty and the poor.