Economics viewpoint 'Make Poverty History' Feels Like Another Age

Twenty years ago, the leaders of the world's most powerful countries, chaired by Tony Blair, gathered at the Scottish golf resort Gleneagles and made historic promises on debt relief and aid.

- Heather Stewart

It was the culmination of a long campaign involving charities, churches and celebrities and benefited from the support of Gordon Brown, for whom international development is a lifelong cause.

A few days before, more than 200,000 campaigners had gathered in Edinburgh to demand that the world's leaders "make poverty history".

As a result of the promises, international aid increased and 36 countries had their crippling overseas debts drastically reduced.

There are many reasons it would be hard to envisage a Gleneagles today. The certainties of the early noughties, when globalisation felt like an unstoppable force underpinning growth and restraining inflation, are long gone.

Three and a half years later, Brown, by then prime minister, was hosting a meeting of global leaders scrambled to respond to the global financial crash.

The resulting recessions in many wealthy countries raised questions about voters' commitment to global causes.