Poverty and political rights: an exercise of recovery from oblivion

Karolina Miriam Januszewski and Manfred Nowak

Chapter 5 in Research Handbook on Human Rights and Poverty, 2026, pp 74-93 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: There is a general awareness of the interdependence of the social, economic and political dimensions of a good life and recognition that people living in poverty feel unheard and silenced. Despite this, there has been a systemic neglect of the civil and political rights of the poor by mainstream human rights actors. This chapter uses a relational approach, which builds strongly on the insights from feminist theory, to analyze poverty and political rights. Looking at poverty through the lens of political rights allows us to discuss ignored aspects of poverty: human interdependence, the collective dimension of political rights, the egalitarian potential of political rights, and class awareness and the political rights of the poor. This approach has the potential to complexify, enrich and disturb the common understanding of human rights. Engaging with poverty through political rights reminds us of the crucial relationship between poverty, inequality and political participation.

Keywords: Poverty; Relational approach; Political rights; Human interdependence; Inequality; Feminist theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035350506
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