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Development as Freedom and the Costa Rican Human Development Story

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  • Severine Deneulin

Abstract

Amartya Sen's capability approach to development considers individual agency as central in promoting human well-being. The paper argues that the capability approach would need to include more explicitly collective and historical dimensions in order to offer better insights for understanding the process of development. The paper begins by briefly discussing Amartya Sen's conception of development as freedom and the role it grants to individual agency. It then proposes a hermeneutical approach to development. This approach emphasizes that actions are to be interpreted in order to uncover the meaning for which they have been carried out. It suggests that a methodology for such interpretation can be found in a dialectic process between the socio-historical reality and the way individuals appropriate that reality. The Costa Rican case study illustrates that it is the outcome of that dialectic which sets the background against which people exercise their individual agency, and the extent to which this leads to the promotion of human well-being.

Suggested Citation

  • Severine Deneulin, 2005. "Development as Freedom and the Costa Rican Human Development Story," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(3-4), pages 493-510.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:oxdevs:v:33:y:2005:i:3-4:p:493-510
    DOI: 10.1080/13600810500199327
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    Cited by:

    1. Shankaran Nambiar, 2013. "Capabilities, conversion factors and institutions," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 13(3), pages 221-230, July.
    2. Hammill, Matthew, 2009. "Income poverty and unsatisfied basic needs," Sede Subregional de la CEPAL en México (Estudios e Investigaciones) 25900, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    3. Nicholas Babin, 2019. "The Agrarian Question and Coffee in Costa Rica," Agrarian South: Journal of Political Economy, Centre for Agrarian Research and Education for South, vol. 8(3), pages 323-348, December.

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