6. Discussion points
• Meaning of Development
• Meaning of Freedom
• Amartya Sen’s views on Development as Freedom
• Dialectical Relations Between Freedom and Economic Development : Global
Scenario
• Capability approach and poverty as capability deprivation
• Relevance of ‘Development as Freedom’ for Contemporary Bangladesh
• Criticism of ‘Development as freedom’
7. What do we mean by development?
➢ Development may mean different things to different people so it is important
that we have some working definition or meaning
➢ Development is therefore must be conceived of as a multidimensional process
involving major changes in social structures, popular attitude, national
institutions as well as the acceleration of economic growth, reduction of the
inequality through expanding substantial freedom that people enjoy.
8. What does mean by Freedom?
➢ Freedom from (?) and Freedom to (?)
➢ Freedom as absence of constraint and freedom as possibility/ability of
choosing
➢ Freedom is concerned with what we are able to do freely
• Can I take part in the life of the community?
• Can I be in a state of good health?
• Can I be well nourished?
Freedom tells whether we have the opportunities
10. Freedom as Means and Ends of Development
Freedom
Means
Development
Ends
Removal of Unfreedom Intolerance
Poverty
Tyranny
Poor eco opportunities
Social deprivation
Lack of public facilities
11. Two Forms of Freedom
Substantive freedom: The life people want to live
freely or freedoms people have reason to value.
Amartya Sen also gave the idea of instrumental
freedom
He identified five types of freedom
▪ Political freedom
▪ Economic facilities
▪ Social opportunities
▪ Transparency guarantee
▪ Protective security
14. Dialectical Relations Between Freedom and Economic Development :
Global Scenario- Case 1
Country HDI Rank HDI Score Freedom
House
Score(out
of 100)
GNI per
capita US$
Norway 1 0.957 100 66,494
Ireland 2 0.955 97 68,371
Switzerland 3 0.955 96 69,394
Iceland 4 0.949 94 54,684
Germany 6 0.947 94 55,344
15. Country HDI Rank HDI
Score
Freedom House
Score(out of
100)
GNI per
capita
US$(PPP)
Saudi Arabia 40 0.854 7 68,371
UAE 31 0.890 17 69,394
Qatar 45 0.848 25 54,684
Oman 60 0.813 24 55,344
Turkey 54 0.820 32 27,701
Dialectical Relations Between Freedom and Economic Development :
Global Scenario Case-2
16. Capability Approach
➢ The Capability Approach focuses directly on the quality of life that individuals are
actually able to achieve.
➢ This quality of life is analyzed in terms of the concepts of 'functioning's' and
'capability’.
➢ Capability: The freedoms that people have, given their command over
commodities.
➢ Functioning's –what people do or can do with the commodities of given
characteristics that they come to possess or control
Resources Capability Functioning’s Utility
17. Poverty as Capability Deprivation
Poverty
Deficiency in capabilities
Lack of Income
Income of people Capabilities
Literacy
Access to income
Longevity
18. Relevance of ‘Development as Freedom’ for Contemporary Bangladesh
Sen has discussed two distinct pathways of making progress in social development
indictors
❑ “growth-mediated” which works through rapid and broad-based economic growth,
thus facilitating better standards of living and generating more public resources for
social spending (e.g. South Korea, Singapore)
❑ ‘interventionist' or 'support-led' which involves large public social spending on
welfare-oriented programs (e.g. Sri Lanka, Costa Rica, China and the Indian state
of Kerala).
It is remarkable that Bangladesh's achievements thus far do not exactly fit into either
of these typical pathways.
19. Comparison Between Bangladesh and India
Indicator Bangladesh India
GDP per capita, 2021 (US$) 1989 1987
Population with basic access to
sanitation %
58.23 48.45
Mortality rate( deaths per 100,000) 11.90 18.60
Global Hunger Ranking 75 96
Life Expectancy (in years) 72.30 69.40
HDI Rank 133 131
20. Indicator 2017 2020
GDP per capita, 2021 (US$) 1553 1989
Freedom house score (out of 100) 47 39
Political Rights score (out of 40) 20 15
Civil Liberties score (out of 60) 27 24
HDI Rank 140 133
Dialectical Relations Between Freedom and Economic Development :
Bangladesh Case
21. Conclusion
Can we conclude based on Amartya Sen’s views on ‘Development as freedom that
development of Bangladesh is the real development ???
22. References
Sen, A. (2014). Development as freedom (1999). The globalization and
development reader: Perspectives on development and global change, 525.
Corbridge, S. (2002). Development as freedom: the spaces of Amartya
Sen. Progress in Development Studies, 2(3), 183-217.
