Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice The Capability Approach Re-Examined, 2017a

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4. Critiques and Debates 197 than the maximal accommodation of the development of people’s agency. Such theories would already be much less liberal. Is it possible for capability theories to be non-liberal? This would probably depend on where exactly one draws the line between a liberal and a non-liberal theory, or, formulated differently, which properties we take to be necessary properties of a theory in order for that theory to qualify as ‘liberal’. The capability approach draws a clear line at the principle of each person as an end, that is, in the endorsement of normative individualism. The principle of normative individualism is clearly a core principle of liberal theories. Yet it is also a core principle of some non-liberal theories that do not give higher priority to agency or autonomy (e.g. capability theories that merge insights from care ethics, and which give moral priority to protecting the vulnerable over enhancing and protecting agency). However, if a theory endorses functionings and/or capabilities as the relevant normative metric, yet violates the principle of each person as an end, it would not only not qualify as a liberal theory, but it would also not qualify as a capability theory. At best, it would qualify as e.g. a hybrid capabilitariancommunitarian theory. not the same idea Some believe that the terms ‘human development approach’ and ‘the capability approach’ are synonymous, or else scholars talk about the ‘capability and human development approach’. Although I will argue that this usage is misleading, the equation of ‘human development’ with ‘capability approach’ is often made. Why is this the case? And is that equation a good thing? First, the Human Development Reports and their best-known index, the Human Development Index, have been vastly influential in making the case for the capability approach, and in spreading the idea of ‘functionings’ and ‘capabilities’ both inside and outside academia (UNDP 1990). In other words, one of the main series of publications within the human development approach, and the corresponding analyses and indexes, is arguably one of the most politically successful applications of the capability approach. However, it doesn’t follow from this that they are the same thing.
198 Wellbeing, Freedom and Social Justice A second possible explanation for this misleading equation is that both the international association and the current name of the main journal in the field have merged both terms: the Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) and the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities. This seems to suggest that ‘human development’ and ‘capabilities’ necessarily go together. But this need not be the case: the use of a particular title doesn’t make the two things the same (and in a moment, I will give a few examples in which this isn’t the case). Thirdly and most importantly, the equation of ‘human development approach’ and ‘capability approach’ shouldn’t be surprising because human development aims to shift the focus of our evaluation of the quality of life and the desirability of social arrangements, from material resources or mental states to people’s functionings and capabilities. The capability approach is thus a central and indispensable element of the human development paradigm. Finally, one may believe that the two terms are equivalent given that some influential authors in the capability literature equate the two terms, or merge them into one idea (Alkire and Deneulin 2009a, 2009b; Fukuda- Parr 2009; Nussbaum 2011). Let me highlight two examples. Sabina Alkire and Séverine Deneulin (2009a, 2009b) do not distinguish between the reach of the capability approach and the human development approach; instead, they merge them into one term, “the human development and capability approach”. More recently, Martha Nussbaum (2011) has written on the distinction in her Creating Capabilities. Nussbaum has suggested that ‘human development approach’ is mainly associated, historically, with the Human Development Reports, and that the term ‘capability approach’ is more commonly used in academia. Nussbaum prefers the term ‘capabilities approach’ since she also likes to include non-human animals in her account. However, for those of us, like me, who are using the capability approach to analyse and evaluate the quality of life as well as the living arrangements of human beings, this is not a valid reason to make the distinction between ‘the human development approach’, and ‘the capability approach’. So, should we use ‘human development approach’ and ‘capability approach’ as synonyms, and merge them together into ‘the human development and capability approach’? I believe we shouldn’t. I think
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Contents Acknowledgements 3 1. Intr
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3. Clarifications 89 3.1 Introducti
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4.7 What about power and political
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Acknowledgements In 1998, when I st
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Acknowledgements 5 the capability a
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1. Introduction Many people who en
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1. Introduction 9 capability approa
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1. Introduction 11 Moreover, it bri
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1. Introduction 13 Countries Outsi
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1. Introduction 15 capabilities of
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1. Introduction 17 their collaborat
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1. Introduction 19 This book has a
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2. Core Ideas and the Framework Th
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Index 253 Fleurbaey, Marc 154 flour
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