Table Of ContentThe Capability Approach
in Practice
This important book maps much of the work operationalising the capability
approach to date, and shows one of the ways in which that approach can be
used for global development agenda setting. Given the significance of the Post-
SDG agenda, and the importance of both local and global knowledges, this book
makes an important contribution to these areas. Anyone interested in mainstream
development ethics, goal setting, and the capability approach will find this book
an excellent resource.
—Krushil Watene, Massey University, New Zealand
In this lucid and systematic study, Morten Fibieger Byskov provides challenging
answers to three questions at the core of both development ethics and the capability
approach to development: (1) Which should be the goals of development and a
“development agenda?” (2) Who should decide? and (3) What methods should
be employed in deciding? The “inclusive framework” for which Byskov argues
achieves a nice balance between normative and empirical aspects of development
and between the rights of local stakeholders and contributions of a variety of
experts. This engaging volume will be a “must read” for development ethicists,
capability theorists, and development practitioners.
—David A. Crocker, University of Maryland, United States
This book develops a philosophical framework for selecting goals for development
purposes. This inclusive and democratic framework integrates a variety of resources
including philosophical theory, empirical analysis, stakeholder deliberations, local
knowledge, and advice from development experts. The author contends that we must
provide good reasons and arguments in order to justify a particular development
agenda. That is, we need to ask why we choose certain kinds of development goals
over others, why we include certain agents in the selection process and not others,
and why we select goals through one method rather than another.
In response to these questions, the author argues that development should aim
at expanding people’s capabilities and functionings. Capabilities and functionings—
capabilities that have been realized—tell us what people are actually able to do and
be with their resources, goods, and formal freedoms. He advances the view that local
stakeholders should have more authority in deciding what a development agenda
looks like. This claim to local authority in development can be interpreted both as
a claim to political authority and expert authority. Finally, the author argues that
ad hoc, foundational, procedural, and mixed (multi-stage) methods need to be
synthesized in order to select the best capabilities and functionings for development.
The Capability Approach in Practice provides a philosophical and systematic
approach to setting development agendas. It is an important contribution to the
literature on the capability approach and development ethics, which will appeal
to a broad range of scholars within philosophy and development studies.
Morten Fibieger Byskov is a postdoctoral researcher at the Interdisciplinary Ethics
Research Group, Department of Politics and International Studies, University of
Warwick, UK.
Routledge Research in Applied Ethics
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The Capability Approach in Practice
A New Ethics for Setting Development Agendas
Morten Fibieger Byskov
The Capability Approach
in Practice
A New Ethics for Setting
Development Agendas
Morten Fibieger Byskov
First published 2018
by Routledge
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and by Routledge
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Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Taylor & Francis
The right of Morten Fibieger Byskov to be identified as author of
this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77
and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted
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A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN: 978-1-138-58445-7 (hbk)
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Contents
List of Tables vi
List of Abbreviations and Acronyms vii
Acknowledgments viii
1 The Importance of Development Agendas 1
2 A Capability Framework for Development Goals 13
3 A Republican Account of Local Authority in
Development 33
4 Third Wave Development Expertise 56
5 Four Criteria for the Selection of Human
Development Goals 81
6 Methods for the Selection of Capabilities and
Functionings 99
7 An Inclusive Framework for Setting Development
Agendas 127
Bibliography 142
Index 157
Tables
4.1 Overview of the Five Forms of Knowledge 64
5.1 Overview of the Four General Criteria, and Their
Sub-clauses, That a Suitable Method for the Selection
of Normatively Relevant Capabilities and Functionings
for a Human Development Agenda Should Be Able
to Satisfy 90
5.2 The Criterion of Methodological Justification and Its
Sub-clauses 91
5.3 The Criterion of Normative Justification and
Its Sub-clauses 92
5.4 The Criterion of Democratic Legitimacy and
Its Sub-clauses 95
5.5 The Criterion of Contextual Sensitivity and
Its Sub-clauses 96
6.1 Overview of Methods for the Selection of Capabilities
and Functionings Proposed within the Human
Development and Capability Literature 102
Abbreviations and Acronyms
cf. (L.) conferre = see; as referred to
e.g. (L.) exempli gratia = for example
et al. (L.) et alii = and other authors
GDP gross domestic product
HDI Human Development Index
HDR Human Development Report(s)
ICSU International Council for Science
ICT information and communication technology
IDTs International Development Targets
i.e. (L.) id est = that is; meaning
IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
IPEC International Programme on the Elimination of Child Labour
ISSC International Social Science Council
MDGs Millennium Development Goals
NGO nongovernmental organization
OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
OWG Open Working Group
Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development
2012
SDGs Sustainable Development Goals
UN United Nations
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization
WHO World Health Organization
Acknowledgments
There are countless people who have shaped my thinking about the top-
ics of this book and to whom I owe my deepest gratitude, no one more
so than Ingrid Robeyns. I am deeply indebted to Ingrid for taking me on
as her PhD student and I have grown as an academic and as a person
under her guidance. I have benefitted immensely from Ingrid’s inquisitive
personality, our many discussions on the foundation of the capability
approach, and her always on-point, in-depth comments, corrections, and
challenges to earlier drafts of this book. I am also grateful for the guid-
ance of Bert van den Brink whose positive attitude was a motivating fac-
tor through the intense period of writing, and his expertise and insights
have made this a much better book.
During the writing of this book I have encountered many inspiring col-
leagues, many of whom I am lucky to have come to consider among my
friends. Especially my involvement with the Human Development and
Capability Association (HDCA) and the International Development Eth-
ics Association (IDEA) has been an important source of inspiration and
fruitful discussion on the themes of this book. I am especially indebted to
Sine Bagatur, Constanze Binder, Rutger Claassen, Flavio Comim, Andrew
Crabtree, David A. Crocker, Julian Culp, Willem van der Deijl, Jay Dry-
dyk, Oscar Garza, Des Gasper, Pablo Gilabert, Rebecca Gutwald, Con-
rad Heilman, Lori Keleher, Serene Khader, Stacy J. Kosko, Sem de Maagt,
Eric Palmer, Jos Philips, Mozaffar Qizilbash, Henry Richardson, Marco
Sebastianelli, Mitu Sengupta, Elaine Unterhalter, Toon Vandevelde, Srid-
har Venkatapuram, Jack Vromen, Krushil Watene, and Thomas Wells.
A shortened version of Chapter 4 has been published in volume 45,
number 3, of Oxford Development Studies with the title “Third Wave
Development Expertise.” I am thankful to Frances Stewart and two
anonymous reviewers for their comments and revisions to this paper.
A shortened version of Chapter 6, titled “Methods for the Selection
of Capabilities and Functionings,” has been accepted for inclusion in
the book New Frontiers of the Capability Approach, edited by Flavio
Comim, Shailaja Fennel, and P. B. Anand, to be published by Cambridge
Acknowledgments ix
University Press. I am indebted to Flavio Comim for his extensive com-
ments and revisions to this chapter.
At Routledge I have benefitted from the editorial advice and assis-
tance of Andrew Weckenmann, whose suggestion for a new title I have
enthusiastically adopted; and Alexandra Simmons, whose patience with
my many questions has been much appreciated. I would also like to
thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions for
improvements to the manuscript.
Lastly, the work on this book was made a lot easier by the continued
support and encouragement from my dearest friends and family: Ida,
Ruth and Knud, Jeppe, Katja and Peter, Sune, Nille, and Jon. Knowing
that my friends and family would always be there for me has been an
invaluable part of this process.
