November 1, 2011 Modernization, Human Development

 Recap 1 – criteria for assessing a develop theory/approach. These were: ▪ Justice; difference; agency ▪ Note: justice as redistribution versus ▪ Justice as removing oppression (metaphor of the cage)  Recap 2: Two approaches to development – modernization; human development as capability

 Five stages of growth  the traditional society  the preconditions for take-off  the take-off  the drive to maturity, and  the age of high mass-consumption.

 Linear  Sees growth as a ‘naturalized’ process  Does not identify forces of change  No contradictions  Assumes the ‘superiority’ of the Western model

 Justice (distribution vs oppression)  Difference (race, gender, ethnicity etc.)  Agency (who brings about change? From above or below? Who has a voice in determining how development happens?  Note: these three are connected. You cannot consider one without the other.

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The Three Approaches At a Glance  HD as enhancement of capability  HD as protection of the most vulnerable  HD as changes in the matrix of social power

The capability approach Main distributive, as associated with capitalism, with minimal liberal regulations, so as to give individuals better access and rights The human face approach Focuses on economic inequality, especially inequality amongst nations.

The capability approach Speaks at length of gender, sporadically of ethnicity and religion; but always within the framework of distributive justice, particularly the distribution of access and opportunity for individuals The human face approach Largely silent; its focus is on groups such as women and children who are most vulnerable Comparing the approaches: Difference

The capability approach The goal is to develop individual agency; in the interim, the state and international institutions are to be the agents which create conditions for the development of individual agency The human face approach The goal is to develop the capacity of international institutions as agents; it also emphasizes the role of the state, and policy-makers as agents

Basic ideas: Development is about unequal power relations between collective entities Gender, race, class, nation etc. Inequality between these entities is Structural and require changes in the structure

Indicators of Human DevelopmentKeralaAll of India Male literacy rate9476 Female literacy rate8854 Percentage of Population Below Poverty Line Infant Mortality Rate Human Development Index Rank 2001 (out of 15) 1

 High levels of human development despite low levels of income  Dramatic changes in fertility, literacy, workforce participation came about without coercion  Strong participation by civil society  Relatively high levels of gender equality  Substantive redistribution of social power as manifested in programs such as land reform

 Continuing problem of growth and unemployment, which derives arguably from an inadequate emphasis on local development  Caste-based and gender exclusion  Environmental concerns

HD requires changes in structures that make people powerless :  Land reforms  Public investment  collective forms of economic production such as cooperatives  Conscious efforts for workplace democratization  State-mediated distributive policies especially in basic necessities such as food and health care

Addressed clearly the problem of gender equality Kerala is the only Indian state where the sex ratio for women exceeded 1 Female literacy exceeds rest of India  Female life expectancy exceeds that for males However, women’s economic and political participation remain inadequate. Why ?

One of the central pillars of the Kerala model has been the nature of agency:  Collective agency e.g., local communities, people’s organizations, networks of solidarity  Decentralization, which has not been without contradictions, but has opened up space for agents at the local level

Kerala’s decentralization strategy and the People’s Plan Campaign are organised on very different principles than the neo-liberal model of decentralization. Key Features:  Transfer of resources from central to local institutions  Local planning and social control  Local self-government structures as the main agents of local planning  Involvement of mass-based organisations

 The question of power is central to human development. Human development cannot be seen as a sum of a number of strategic tasks disembedded from an overall structure of power  It is therefore important to think of human development as a reconfiguration of power rather than discrete policy measures  Institutions are as much a problem as a potential solution for human development