Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Sen's capability approach'

There are two main motivations for undertaking this thesis on Sen’s capability approach and microfinance. One is to evaluate Sen’s capability approach by considering moral philosophy (utilitarianism and John Rawls’ theory of justice) and developmental ethics contexts. The other is to analyse the impact of microfinance on poverty reduction in accordance with Sen’s approach. This thesis argues that Although Sen’s capability approach has drawbacks, both as a general moral theory and as a theory of justice, it does bring up important aspects of development and poverty reduction. When the empirical evidence is combined with criteria from the capability approach, microfinance is a relative failure as a poverty-reducing approach. The evidence that micro-loans reduce poverty is weak, and there are moral arguments against the group lending approach that is used to assure repayments. Other services sometimes associated with microfinance – savings and insurance — do help the poor, however. However, we should notice that the conclusion I propose here does not exclude the possibility that perhaps microfinance does help promote some other freedoms that are of significance locally.

Measuring poverty adequately is critical for any type of development project, and yet there are still no clear guidelines as to which approach is best to be used for different circumstances. There is a variety of different ways of measuring and understanding poverty, each with their own advantages and disadvantages, depending on the intended goal. This research explored the theory regarding poverty and poverty measurements, and research various perspectives ranging from income to basic needs, socail exclusion, sustainable livelihoods, and finally to the Human Development Approach.

This thesis assesses the Amartya Sen's Capability Approach as a theory of global justice. Sen proposes a new paradigm for human development, having expansion of human capability as the moral norm for individual and institutional actions. Sen's paradigm-shifting theory is tested first as a theory of social ethics; and then as a theory of global justice, taking into account globalization’s challenges to theories of justice. The theory's known application – UNDP's Human Development Index and other initiatives – is also scrutinized, aiming to determine whether this application is an accurate translation of the capability approach into reality. On a theoretical point of view, the thesis reveals that what started as a simple interpersonal comparison method can be considered as an efficient theory of global justice, provided that minor proposed amendments are taken. On a practical point of view, the thesis points out that the application of Sen's capability approach is a weak normative representation of the theory, which urges to be reengineered. The thesis calls for a radical expansion of HDI, both in the components of the index (it should urgently have a component for political freedom) and in its unit of comparison. Rather than comparing just nations, human development indexes should target most actors in the global scenario: organizations, NGOs, institutions of global governance and so on.

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine to what extent Sen's freedom-centred view of development, with its existing theoretical foundations, offers sufficient theoretical insights for guiding development policies towards the enhancement of human freedoms. The theoretical part of the dissertation focuses on the three foundational building stones of Sen's freedom-centred view of development. First, the capability approach sets the evaluation space of development in the capabilities that people have reason to choose and value, but by doing so, it is argued that Sen's capability approach contains tensions between human freedom and human well-being that can be loosened by thickening this evaluation space with a substantial view of human well-being. Second, the capability approach views individual agency as central in development, but because of the socio-historical dimension of human freedom and agency, it is argued that concepts of collective capabilities and of socio-historical agency are more central in promoting human freedoms. Third, promoting human freedoms cannot be dissociated from democratic policy-making. But because the link between the two is not necessary, it is argued that the capability approach's consequentialist evaluation of human well-being will have to be thickened by a procedural evaluation which assesses the exercise of political freedom through certain normative principles of decision-making. The empirical part of the thesis illustrates these theoretical arguments through the analysis of two case studies, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic. The case studies particularly point to a country's socio-historical agency, or collective capability in promoting human well-being, through socio-historical narratives. These narratives assess a country's collective capability in promoting human freedoms by looking at the country's socio-historical reality, and how its members have appropriated that reality in the course of the country's history, opening up or closing down opportunities for realising policy decisions towards the removal of unfreedoms.

This thesis explores the connection between Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) and Catholic Social Teaching (CST). It questions whether their economic and theological views can be methodologically and practically compatible, articularly around issues of development as freedom and wellbeing as justice. The thesis proposes dialogue between CA and CST, framed by some parables of the New Testament, and argues that he fruit of such a dialogue can enhance human development and reduce injustices, especially in poor regions in Latin America.

Previous studies by Cornforth (2003, 2004), Cornelius et al. (2008), Cornelius and Wallace (2010), and Wallace and Cornelius (2010) highlight the need for further research in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for social enterprises and how their governance systems facilitate social outcomes when aligned to organisational mission. Against this backdrop, the main aim of this study is: to investigate the extent to which social enterprises (not-for-profit social providers) pursue ethical practices and social policies underpinned by their CSR agendas that enhance their stakeholders’ capabilities. The conceptual framework for the study is built on Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach (Sen 1991, 1999). Primary data were collected from face-to-face, in-depth, semi structured interviews with twelve owner-managers of small social enterprises from Bradford, UK. These were designed to understand their enterprise’s ethical views towards the development of deprived communities and the role this has in formulating their enterprise’s CSR agenda. The interview data were transcribed and analysed using constructivist grounded theory. The findings suggest that external CSR provision is often prompted as an immediate reaction to problematic issues arising in society. In general, it consequently lacks sustainability and is insufficiently evaluated for long term social impact. It is therefore argued that the CSR agenda for social enterprises should be based more on the organisation’s social ethos than the current process. Moreover, the findings emphasise the importance of social strategy emanating from governance mechanisms as this was identified as critical for the implementation of the CSR agenda so that social value is created in a structured and planned manner. These findings make a contribution to knowledge by providing conceptual and empirical insights regarding the consequences of social enterprises incorporating capabilities into their CSR policies and practices, and its social impact. Moreover, a conceptual model is developed that reflects the strategic importance of such a convergence in achieving this dual purpose.

Doctor of Philosophy
This thesis analyses the concept of indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination within the international human rights system and explores viable avenues for the fulfilment of indigenous claims to self–determination through the design, implementation and evaluation of development policies. The thesis argues that development policy plays a crucial role in determining the level of enjoyment of self–determination for indigenous peoples. Development policy can offer an avenue to bypass nation states’ political unwillingness to recognize and promote indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination, when adequate principles and criteria are embedded in the whole policy process. The theoretical foundations of the thesis are drawn from two different areas of scholarship: indigenous human rights discourse and development economics. The indigenous human rights discourse provides the articulation of the debate concerning the concept of indigenous self–determination, whereas development economics is the field within which Amartya Sen’s capability approach is adopted as a theoretical framework of thought to explore the interface between indigenous rights and development policy. Foundational concepts of the capability approach will be adopted to construct a normative system and a practical methodological approach to interpret and implement indigenous peoples’ right to self–determination. In brief, the thesis brings together two bodies of knowledge and amalgamates foundational theoretical underpinnings of both to construct a normative and practical framework. At the normative level, the thesis offers a conceptual apparatus that allows us to identify an indigenous capability rights–based normative framework that encapsulates the essence of the principle of indigenous self–determination. At the practical level, the normative framework enables a methodological approach to indigenous development policies that serves as a vehicle for the fulfilment of indigenous aspirations for self–determination. This thesis analyses Australia’s health policy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as an example to explore the application of the proposed normative and practical framework. The assessment of Australia’s health policy for Indigenous Australians against the proposed normative framework and methodological approach to development policy, allows us to identify a significant vacuum: the omission of Aboriginal traditional medicine in national health policy frameworks and, as a result, the devaluing and relative demise of Aboriginal traditional healing practices and traditional healers.

The focus of this research is the cultural assumptions underpinning Africa’s strategies of economic development, taking the Lagos Plan of Action (LPA) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) as case studies. It considers the issue whether the neglect of Africa’s cultural beliefs and values in African plans and policies of economic development may not lead to a development impasse. Accordingly, three major objectives are pursued. The first objective is to attempt a critical assessment of the two strategies of economic development, LPA and NEPAD, against the background of theories of economic development that informed them respectively and their cultural assumptions. Using both a theoretical reflection and an empirical approach, I argue that LPA and NEPAD relied on theories of economic development whose cultural foundations are not African. Consequently, although they were designed in Africa, their respective philosophical bases are not African. The second objective is to investigate the relationship between African cultural values and economic development and the extent to which the neglect of the African value system in African policymaking and planning could lead to a development impasse. Based on a theoretical reflection as well as empirical research, I argue that in both LPA and NEPAD, the beliefs and values that structure the African value system have been neglected to the extent of being ignored. The major implication of this neglect is that there is insufficient room for people’s participation in the process of their economic development. Participation makes possible the democratisation and the inculturation of economic development, and thus translates the universal conception of economic development to its local, cultural feasibility. The third objective is to propose certain philosophical premises that could guide development planning in Africa. I revisit the African value system and retrieve the Bantu concept of the human person as umuntu-w’-ubuntu / umuntu-mu-bantu in order to ground the future economic development of Africa on the African foundation. Using Sen’s capability approach which defines development in terms of the ability of people to lead the life they value and have reason to value, human agency and the expansion of capabilities (or real freedoms people enjoy), I suggest four philosophical premises which link African economic development to what Africans believe and value. The first premise consists of the shift from extroversion to the freedom of people to lead the lives they value and have reason to value. This premise deals with the spirit of extroversion which prevents Africans from appreciating their beliefs and values in the process of economic development. It emphasises the fact that development is not a project, but rather a process by which people create and recreate themselves and the conditions by which they can flourish fully. The second premise is the human agency. It deals with the shift from the conception of development as an autonomous process to the conception of development as an agency-based process. It emphasises that the development conceived of as an agency-based process, has as its starting-point and end-point the people. The third premise deals with the shift from the conception of development as an end product to development as an expansion of capability or the real freedoms people enjoy. This premise emphasises three major things. The first is that the expansion of people’s capability is both the end and the means of development. People’s capabilities are not only the primary end of development, they are also its principal means. The second is that development conceived of as the expansion of people’s capability is the concern of both the people and their structural institutions. The third is that the interaction between people and their structural institutions makes it possible to transcend the various dualities often observed in certain development approaches such as the bottom-up and topdown development. The fourth and last premise is the principle of baking the cake together. This premise follows from the fact that the capability approach leads to development as a participatory and inclusive process. It expresses the traditional practice of collaboration in the African community. It emphasises that the three major actors in the development process, namely, the state, the people and the market which tend to exclude each other, are all agents and must work together inclusively to achieve a sustainable economic development. These are the premises suggested to lead future economic development in Africa. Each of these assumptions has implications which are unpacked in the conclusion.
Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2012.
Philosophy
unrestricted

Doctor Legum - LLD
Many African states are in dire need of economic development to alleviate poverty, enhance the quality of life of peoples and bring development home. To meet this aim, land investments have been the preferred mode of development for a long time on the African continent with particular reference to Ethiopia and Madagascar as selected case studies of this study. Hectares of land are being given away to foreign investors involved in agricultural investments through investments treaties and contracts. The aim is primarily to attract foreign direct investments to boost the economy. Unfortunately, this seems to be a skewed vision of development, focusing exclusively on economic development without any consideration to social, cultural and political development of people, especially local communities. Such a narrow mode of development is not in line with human rights principles and considerations with thousands of people of the two countries having their basic human rights being constantly and irreparably violated by the actions of foreign investors involved in land investments. Their lands are being grabbed and this is entailing a series of other major infringements of civil and political as well as socio-economic rights intrinsically linked to land. Ethiopia and Madagascar are both parties to major legal instruments on human rights at the UN and the African level. They have legal obligations to respect, protect and fulfil human rights that are being violated on a daily basis by land grabbing. In addition, their domestic legal frameworks are supposed to confer adequate and effective protection to those human rights and protect them from the negative impacts of land grabbing. When such a mode of economic development is resulting in basic human rights violations, it is clear that such development is not aligned with an all-inclusive and encompassing mode of development. To this end, this study adopts Sen’s Capability Approach to development which advocates that development should render people free and capable. Individuals have capabilities which must be enhanced and protected. In the context of land grabbing, land, water, food, culture and political participation have been identified as the human capabilities which require the utmost form of protection and respect. The thesis investigates the ways in which international and domestic legal frameworks on human rights can be used to protect the selected capabilities. While economic development in the form of investments and FDI is necessary in any country, there is a pressing need for such national economic interests to be balanced with human rights of local communities who are the main victims of land grabbing. Accordingly, in terms of the central research question, the study, with references to the two selected jurisdictions, investigates how African states should take appropriate measures and steps to ensure that land investments are compliant with their obligations under international human rights normative framework in a way that renders local communities “capable” in line with Sen’s Capability Approach. In terms of methodology, desk research is used based on reports and data that international research institutions have presented on land grabbing. The common capabilities that are violated in the two jurisdictions are singled out and eventually analysed in line with international human rights framework including the right to development, the right to land, the right to food, the right to water, the right to culture and the right to political participation. The main aim is to examine how a balanced mode of development as proposed by Sen can be achieved using the international framework on human rights, the right to development specifically and the domestic legal framework of the countries. The study concludes that the human rights framework protecting the identified capabilities is not being effectively complied with by the two selected states. In addition, their domestic legislative framework on human rights is not in conformity and harmony with international standards set by treaties and treaties bodies. Accordingly, the study proposes a number of measures that could be taken by states to achieve the balance between national development interests and human rights.

Previous studies by Cornforth (2003, 2004), Cornelius et al. (2008), Cornelius and Wallace (2010), and Wallace and Cornelius (2010) highlight the need for further research in the area of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) for social enterprises and how their governance systems facilitate social outcomes when aligned to organisational mission. Against this backdrop, the main aim of this study is: to investigate the extent to which social enterprises (not-for-profit social providers) pursue ethical practices and social policies underpinned by their CSR agendas that enhance their stakeholders’ capabilities. The conceptual framework for the study is built on Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach (Sen 1991, 1999). Primary data were collected from face-to-face, in-depth, semi structured interviews with twelve owner-managers of small social enterprises from Bradford, UK. These were designed to understand their enterprise’s ethical views towards the development of deprived communities and the role this has in formulating their enterprise’s CSR agenda. The interview data were transcribed and analysed using constructivist grounded theory. The findings suggest that external CSR provision is often prompted as an immediate reaction to problematic issues arising in society. In general, it consequently lacks sustainability and is insufficiently evaluated for long term social impact. It is therefore argued that the CSR agenda for social enterprises should be based more on the organisation’s social ethos than the current process. Moreover, the findings emphasise the importance of social strategy emanating from governance mechanisms as this was identified as critical for the implementation of the CSR agenda so that social value is created in a structured and planned manner. These findings make a contribution to knowledge by providing conceptual and empirical insights regarding the consequences of social enterprises incorporating capabilities into their CSR policies and practices, and its social impact. Moreover, a conceptual model is developed that reflects the strategic importance of such a convergence in achieving this dual purpose.

碩士
東吳大學
政治學系
100
In this thesis, I will attempt to investigate how Amartya Sen’s capability approach, as a universal metric of interpersonal comparison, overcomes the challenges derived from pervasive human diversities. How does it provide us with a universal framework to evaluate and compare individual advantages while still respecting the values of pluralism and human diversity? My work will begin with an analysis of Sen’s capability approach, and then with an analysis of the debate between Sen and John Rawls who argues that the social primary goods are the better metrics of interpersonal comparison. These analyses can help us to clarify the concerns of universalism and pluralism in the context of the capability approach and to review the potential shortfalls and advantages of the approach. This research found that Sen’s capability approach uses substantial freedom as the base of individual advantage. Through this way, the capability approach can leave room for value pluralism to develop and allow human diversities to be fully considered during the process of interpersonal comparison. However, due to the way that Sen justified the value of freedom of choice, the lake of statement and justification of public reasoning and the limits derived from the nature of capability metric, Sen’s capability approach as a universal metric still faces challenges.

Keung, Pui Chi.
Thesis Ph.D. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2016.
Includes bibliographical references (leaves 135-151).
Abstracts also in Chinese.
Title from PDF title page (viewed on 01, December, 2016).
Keung, Pui Chi.

博士
國立高雄師範大學
教育學系
103
Between “Equal opportunity” and “Adequacy” of Education-A View from Amartya Sen’s capability approach Abstract This study was aimed to inquire into the education policies of “equal opportunity” and “adequacy” with special reference to Amartya Sen’s account of “capability approach.” In order to do so, the sociopolitical backgrounds, value appeals, and philosophical bases of these education efforts were analyzed to pave the way for further dialectic comparison and discussion. The very ideas of equity, effectiveness, and positive freedom derived respectively from each policy and Sen’s approach were disclosed while their policy standpoints and relations were examined. As regards policy analysis, the author firstly introduced and investigated Sen’s capability approach on the basis of which two target programs, namely the “education priority area” and the “merge of small size schools,” were thus examined. These programs should be counted as typical Taiwan education issues relating to policies of equal opportunity and adequacy since the education reform in the early 1990s. Both methods of philosophical analysis and policy analysis were employed to look into the backgrounds, value orientations, and philosophical bases of education policies resorting to equal opportunity, adequacy, and capability. Hopefully the characteristic of each policy and their differences and relations might be grasped after further dialectic comparison and discussion. Main results could be briefed as follows: 1. Education as good for both the state and the individual was bound to reveal its diverse values in accordance with the development of human societies. In the present Taiwan, education has been thought as a human right of the people rather than of the state. 2. By historical reasoning on education policies, four stages of education demands might be highlighted, viz., national education provision for educational opportunities, developments of equality of educational opportunity in response to the appeal for equality, education adequacy in response to the appeal for effectiveness, and capability approach replying to what Sen called “freedom to.” 3. Based on the capability approach several effects could be achieved through the integration of equal opportunity and adequacy. For instance, expanding the information focuses could make better the processes of policy making; centering on resources (both tangible and intangible) transformation rather than resources distribution; diverse standards rather than single universal one; accomplishing the ideal forms of education and the most possible freedom. 4. Capability approach grasped the very meaning of “piecemeal” and sociopolitical contexts so that it could make education reform more suitable, schooling more lively, and learning more easily and alternatively. Keywords: capability approach, equality of educational opportunity, education adequacy, education priority area, merge of small size schools

碩士
銘傳大學
教育研究所
107
The purpose of this study is to explore the ideal, goals and implementation of 12-years basic education from the capability approach theory developed by Amartya Sen. In this study, using literature analyses is used to analyze the implementation of 12-years basic education, and explore the educational application of Amartya Sen's capability approach theory. Finally, to analyze the ideal, goals and implementation of 12-years basic education with Amartya Sen’s capability approach theory. The research conclusions are as following: 1. The ideal, goals of the 12-year basic education is conforming to Sen's capability approach theory. 2. 12-year basic education should expand as much as possible the individual's capability and agency so that he or she can fulfill his or her potential in the future. 3. Assessing the effectiveness of 12-year basic education should expand informational focus, understand the actual life of students, and the process of resource conversion. Extend the evaluation of educational effectiveness to processes and opportunities.