The Poverty and Power Research Initiative is a student-run group that explores the power structures in various economic, social, and political systems, and their effects on various forms of poverty- monetary, informational, resource, etc. PPRI focuses on promoting a wide-range of student-led discourse and debate on various topics, hosting relevant speakers, and most importantly generating student-led research which adds to academic discourse.
PPRI is a group that focuses on understanding the hypothesis that poverty is often a product of distorted political and economic governance structures where decision-making powers are unequally distributed within a society. PPRI began under the 2007/2008 Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) colloquium on Global Poverty and Inequality. Under the guidance of a 2007/2008 IGL/PJTT INSPIRE Fellow Jose Maria Argueta, President of the Institute for Central American Strategic Studies and former Guatemalan Ambassador to Peru and Japan, a group of seven Tufts undergraduate and graduate students began examining the relationship in Guatemala between poverty and inequality as manifested through national decision making processes. The students researched Guatemala’s attempt to qualify for a new US foreign assistance program, the Millennium Challenge Account (MCA), which uses an incentive and rewards system of aid conditionality to encourage democratic reform in developing countries. (+ Philippines)
Our group has focused on different aspects of corruption since its founding. Through our speaker series, weekly discussion sessions and debates, and documentary screenings, we have created a lively forum for learning, thinking and addressing this subject. Some topics thus far have been:
1. How do we define corruption?
2. How can corruption be tackled?
3. In what ways does corruption manifest itself across countries and regions as well as in our daily lives?
4. What is the role of corruption in humanitarian assistance, natural resource extraction, construction contracting, etc.?
5. Specific case studies: Guatemala, the Philippines, Haiti, Bosnia, Turkey.
PPRI is a small, focused group at Tufts, but has a wide network base on campus and in the greater-Boston community. PPRI currently has about 10 dedicated research members.
PPRI has been involved in global research efforts around the world. Past research groups within PPRI have examined social class dynamics among youth in Haiti, the disintegrating peace process in Bosnia-Herzegovina in collaboration with The Dayton Peace Process and the Project on Justice in Times of Transition. A past PPRI project examined oligarchy wealth in the Philippines and financial corruption in Guatemala.
Currently, PPRI has two research projects in progress. One research project is focusing on political influence on journalism in Turkey is affecting freedom of speech and of the press. PPRI Turkey is interested in examining how the interaction of politics and journalism affects the portrayal of salient topics in the media. PPRI Turkey will be traveling to Istanbul in January 2013 to conduct on the ground interviews the columnists, editors, aceademics, and civil society members. PPRI is also formulating a new research topic on the defense sector, more specifically military transitions and post-conflict transitional societies. This research will potentially focus on Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Afghanistan, East Timor, or other. More information about our new research project will be coming soon!
