The Capability Approach and Sustainability

The Capability Approach and Sustainability

Author: Ortrud Lessmann

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-03-16

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 1134912331

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This is the first book dedicated exclusively to the question of the relationships between sustainability and the capability approach. It is rather astonishing that the issue of sustainability first posed by the Brundtland commission in 1987 has gained so little attention from capability scholars despite the approach’s focus on human well-being. This book starts with a seminal contribution by Sen on the "Ends and Means of Sustainability" delivered as a keynote in 2000. All contributions to the book focus on the difficulties that arise from a freedom-oriented view of sustainability: they argue for taking note of the impact of human life on nature, they question the meaning of intergenerational justice when measured in the currency of "substantive freedoms" (capabilities), they raise the issue of collective responsibility and suggest ways to model and operationalize the capability approach to sustainable development. The book presents the state of the art concerning "The capability approach and sustainability" while admitting that it is only a first contribution to a growing field that deserves our attention: Defining what is to be sustained and asking how it can be sustained. This book was published as a special issue of the Journal of Human Development and Capabilities.


The Capability Approach

The Capability Approach

Author: S. Ibrahim

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2014-07-22

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 1137001437

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How can human capabilities be articulated and promoted in practice? How can the challenges encountered in its application be addressed? This volume answers these research questions through nine country case studies from the Global North and the Global South.


Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development

Author: Felix Rauschmayer

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2012-07-26

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1136886761

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This groundbreaking new work establishes links between sustainable development, needs, well-being, and the capabilities approach that is central to human development and the United Nations Development Programme. By challenging the role of people in sustainability policy, this collection’s argument refocuses sustainable development on needs and makes it easier for people to relate positively to its core values. This exciting new book incites a whole new way of looking at sustainable development. Even though the word ‘needs’ is central to the most popular definition of sustainable development, the concepts of needs and capabilities remain within the debate on human development, without going further into intergenerational justice or environmental protection. The discussion of needs reaches non-academics in a more direct way than talking about abstract thresholds, substitutability and other issues dear to academic debate on sustainability. This collection links the questions of intra- and intergenerational justice with issues of quality of life, life courses, and well-being. Dealing with needs entails dealing with deeper layers of consciousness, revealing emotions and questioning habits and values. In this way, the collection presents an opportunity for substantial social change as well as a challenge for research and policy-making. This thought-provoking collection asks its readers to reconsider the role of needs based on the philosophical arguments presented, to understand how sustainability can become a part of the capability approach, to better consider the dependency of life chances on birth contingencies, and to see the relationship between capabilities, needs, and well-being in a different light. The editors finish by clarifying the possibilities and challenges of a needs-based sustainability policy for policy makers, and explain the role of deeply held values. This book should be of interest to postgraduates and researchers in Environmental and Ecological Economics, as well as many other disciplines including Political Economics, Social Ecology, Human Ecology, Sustainability Science and Developmental Politics.


New Frontiers of the Capability Approach

New Frontiers of the Capability Approach

Author: Flavio Comim

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2018-10-25

Total Pages: 671

ISBN-13: 1108427804

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Leading scholars from a range of disciplines contribute to an inclusive discussion of the latest techniques and issues examined by the capability approach. It will appeal to readers across academic backgrounds including development studies, economics, sociology, education, urban planning, political science, geography, public policy and management.


Sustainability, Capabilities and Human Security

Sustainability, Capabilities and Human Security

Author: Andrew Crabtree

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2020-02-28

Total Pages: 195

ISBN-13: 3030389057

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Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum have made major contributions to development studies and social philosophy, yet sustainability issues have largely remained outside their domain despite sustainability’s significance and complex relation to their central value of freedom. This volume explores sustainability from a capabilities perspective, with the motif of human security, inviting a lively discussion within the human development family. After introducing the two approaches, authors conceptualize relationships between capabilities and the environment, examine the scientific and normative validity of environmental indicators and analyse intergenerational justice. Climate change is used to exemplify that a human security approach can add an explanatory ontology to the ethical criticisms of contemporary ways of life that champion consumerism. That ontology recognizes shared life experiences, problems and life challenges - a community of fate. The volume ends with a discussion of how the approaches can inform and sometimes critique the Sustainable Development Goals.


The Capability Approach and the Sustainable Development Goals

The Capability Approach and the Sustainable Development Goals

Author: Brian Vincent Ikejiaku

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2024-07-26

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1040041744

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This book demonstrates how the capability approach to human development can contribute to the realisation of the 2015 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The capability approach dictates that success should not be measured by economic indicators but by people leading meaningful, free, fulfilled, happy, or satisfied lives. Drawing from a range of disciplinary perspectives, this book argues that it is vital that the focus for the SDGs should shift to benefiting the most vulnerable. Case studies from across Asia, Africa, Latin America (Global South), and the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia (Global North) consider how the capability approach can contribute as a practical framework to achieving the SDGs’ ambitions for social, economic, political, and legal progress. Drawing on insights from a range of disciplines, this book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners from the fields of law, politics, international relations, criminology, international development, sociology, public policy, area studies, and others.


A Theory of Justice

A Theory of Justice

Author: John RAWLS

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2009-06-30

Total Pages: 624

ISBN-13: 0674042603

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Though the revised edition of A Theory of Justice, published in 1999, is the definitive statement of Rawls's view, so much of the extensive literature on Rawls's theory refers to the first edition. This reissue makes the first edition once again available for scholars and serious students of Rawls's work.


The Capability Approach

The Capability Approach

Author: Flavio Comim

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2008-04-24

Total Pages: 636

ISBN-13: 9780521862875

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The capability approach developed by Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen has become an important new paradigm in thinking about development. However, despite its theoretical and philosophical attractiveness, it has been less easy to measure or to translate into policy. This volume addresses these issues in the context of poverty and justice. Part I offers a set of conceptual essays that debate the strength of the often misunderstood individual focus of the capability approach. Part II investigates the techniques by which we can measure and compare capabilities, and how we can integrate them into poverty comparisons and policy advice. Finally, Part III looks at how we can apply the capability approach to different regions and contexts. Written by a team of international scholars, The Capability Approach is a valuable resource for researchers and graduate students concerned with the debate over the value of the capability approach and its potential applications.


The Imperatives of Sustainable Development

The Imperatives of Sustainable Development

Author: Erling Holden

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-09-05

Total Pages: 464

ISBN-13: 1134338481

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Thirty years ago, the UN report Our Common Future placed sustainable development firmly on the international agenda. The Imperatives of Sustainable Development takes the ethical foundations of Our Common Future and builds a model that emphasizes three equally important moral imperatives – satisfying human needs, ensuring social justice, and respecting environmental limits. This model suggests sustainability themes and assigns thresholds to them, thereby defining the space within which sustainable development can be achieved. The authors accept that there is no single pathway to the sustainable development space. Different countries face different challenges and must follow different pathways. This perspective is applied to all countries to determine whether the thresholds of the sustainability themes selected have been met, now and in the past. The authors build on the extensive literature on needs, equity, justice, environmental science, ecology, and economics, and show how the three moral imperatives can guide policymaking. The Imperatives of Sustainable Development synthesizes past reasoning, summarizes the present debate, and provides a clear direction for future thinking. This book will be essential reading for everyone interested in the future of sustainable development and in the complex environmental and social issues involved.


Amartya Sen's Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education

Amartya Sen's Capability Approach and Social Justice in Education

Author: Melanie Walker

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2007-07-09

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 0230604811

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This compelling book introduces Nobel laureate Amartya Sen's capability approach and explores its significance for theory, policy and practice in education. The book looks particularly at questions concerning the education of children, gender equality, and higher education. Contributors hail from the UK, USA, Australia, Italy and Mexico.