58 pages • 1 hour read
Amartya SenDevelopment As Freedom
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 1999A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Essay Topics
Analyze how changing the focus of development from GNP per capita to freedom matters to public policy. How would development programs based on the idea of freedom be different?
Define capabilities and functionings. Evaluate Sen’s argument that it is important to examine both in the context of measuring development.
Sen asserts that “a person’s liberty should get just the same kind of importance (no more) that other types of personal advantages—incomes, utilities and so on—have” (64). What does he mean by this? What implications does this have for the idea of human rights?
Analyze Sen’s evidence that the lack of food is the not the primary cause of famines. Explain whether it is convincing.
Sen writes from the perspective of a South Asian man. How does this affect his ideas and especially his critiques of authoritarian Asian leaders?
Sen writes: “Nothing, arguably, is as important today in the political economy of development as an adequate recognition of political, economic and social participation and leadership of women” (203). Why does he place the highest importance on empowering women for development?
Analyze the role of healthcare and education in Sen’s argument. Why does he consider them essential to developing individual freedoms?
Sen claims that Adam Smith’s thought has been used in simplistic and unfair ways. Explain Sen’s view of what Adam Smith’s ideas. Analyze how Sen’s reconstruction of Smith’s thought supports the idea of development as freedom.
Research Singapore, South Korea, China, or another country that achieved notable economic growth while limiting political rights. Sen claims that all the policies behind that growth could have been implemented just as well in a non-authoritarian democracy. Does the evidence support his claim?
In the decades since Sen wrote this book, concerns about climate change and climate justice have come to the forefront of development discussions. Research some of these concerns. Do Sen’s ideas of development as freedom give an adequate framework to evaluate and address these concerns?
