It is important to give simultaneous recognition to the centrality of individual freedom and to the force of social influences on the extent and reach of There is a deepĬomplementarity between individual agency and social arrangements. On the other hand, the freedom of agency that we have individually is inescapably qualified and constrained by the social, political and economic opportunities that are available to us. Indeed, individual agency is, ultimately, central to addressing We have to recognize, it is argued here, the role of freedoms of different kinds in countering these afflictions. Overcoming these problems is a central part of the exercise of development.

Many of these deprivations can be observed, in one form or another, in rich countries as well as poor ones. Of elementary political freedoms as well as of basic liberties, extensive neglect of the interests and agency of women and worsening threats to our environment and to the sustainability of our economic and social lives.

There are many new problems as well as old ones, including persistence of poverty and unfulfilled elementary needs, occurrence of famines and widespread hunger, violation This is so not only in the fields of trade, commerce and communication, but also in terms of interactive ideas and ideals.Īnd yet we also live in a world with remarkable deprivation, destitution and oppression. People live much longer, on an average, than ever before.Īlso, the different regions of the globe are now more closely linked than they have ever been. Concepts of human rights and political liberty are now very much a part of the prevailing rhetoric. Governance as the preeminent model of political organization. The twentieth century has established democratic and participatory There have also been remarkable changes beyond the economic sphere. We live in a world of unprecedented opulence of a kind that would have been hard even to imagine a century or two ago.

Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen