Liberty Limited? A Sympathetic Re-Engagement with Amartya Sen’s Development as Freedom

Amartya Sen’s Development as Freedom represents a brilliant vision of human development in this time of crisis. It effectively critiques growth-based development which often encourages (explicitly or implicitly) political repression in order to stimulate high rates of economic growth. Sen argues that freedom should be both the goal and means of development, with an important role for the state in expanding the poor’s abilities to enhance their freedoms. However, Sen weds his vision to capitalist markets, which undermines his analysis. To realise the vision it should be linked to non-capitalist development.