The most effective weapon against poverty is the expansion of democracy, and this on both economic and political grounds. True democracies also know that they have to strike a balance between growth and redistribution. That balance may well be shifting, because in true democracies nothing is cast in stone except the principle of accountability. When social instability threatens, democracies will not send in the tanks. They will seek to resolve legitimate grievances.
Democracy is the most effective and durable reinsurance against instability.
In the 21st century, however, one cannot have stability without democracy. Outside the Democratic People s Republic of Korea, where the walls of isolation are beginning to crumble under the twin assault of grinding poverty and knowledge of prosperity elsewhere, in the age of ubiquitous access to information about other citizens or other peoples living and working conditions, authoritarian or dictatorial regimes cannot durably respond to the legitimate aspirations of those who have been left behind. And democracies can both educate and motivate the poor to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. It is not surprising, therefore, that the first of the ILO s major objectives in recent years has been to support the development of democracy. Combating poverty has been another major objective.