Summaries Although the return in the 1990s of the issue of poverty reduction to the agenda of international organisations is very welcome, an important obstacle to further progress remains. To date, the anti‐poverty agenda in developing countries has been largely externally driven, whereas previous successful anti‐poverty strategies have been implemented through internal political dynamics. This article explores the implications of this difficulty including the suggestion that good research on the politics of pro‐poor policies may be more valuable in the next few years than further refinements of the economic measures of the incidence of poverty.