Summary Increasing poverty and social exclusion (PSE) open up the possibility of fertile dialogue between North and South on three issues of successively greater depth: first, new comparisons or lessons to be drawn across geographical boundaries about the characteristics, causes and remedies of PSE. Second, the implications of a new convergence between North and South. And third, the possibility of a new theory to expose connections between PSE in North and South. New alliances of disciplinary and sectoral specialists suggest themselves.