The Creation of the Human Development Approach

ISBN-13: 9783319846866 / Angielski / Miękka / 2018 / 173 str.

Tadashi Hirai

Opis

This book examines the main reasons and challenges for the success of the human development approach both in theory and practice as an alternative to the economic growth model. Unlike the preceding research which has typically been either theoretical/prescriptive or empirical/descriptive, it follows a pragmatic historical and institutional methodology, since human development cannot be understood without considering the complexities added centrally by the formation process in the UNDP. Referring to the capability approach, it also addresses how to best reflect happiness within this paradigm.

Recenzje

"This concise and well-written book by Tadashi Hirai adds to the growing body of literature on Human Development (HD) by offering an in-depth historical perspective on the emergence of the approach and an analysis of its institutional context. ... Hirai's book is thoughtfully researched, clearly written and economical with words. The monograph is highly suitable for gaining an overview of the historic and institutional context of human development and its measurement." (Madleina Daehnhardt, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, Vol. 20 (1), 2019)

Spis treści

1. History of Development: Towards Human Development

Introduction

Conceptual Shifts in Development

The Basic Needs Approach

The Human Development Approach

The Basic Needs Approach & the Human Development Approach

Conclusions

2. Institutionalisation of Development Concepts

Introduction

Institutional Mechanisms

The Economic Growth Model in the Bretton Woods Institutions

The Human Development Approach within the UNDP

Conclusions

3. Measurement of Development: Predecessors of the Human Development Index

Introduction

Conceptual Issues

Operational Issues

Some Reflections and Implications of the Formulation of the HDI

Conclusions

4. The Human Development Index and Its Evolution

Introduction

Review of Critiques of the HDI

Revisions of the HDI in the HDRs

Discussion: What for the Future?

Conclusions

5. Happiness in Human Development

Introduction

The Capability Approach in Support of the Human Development Approach

Happiness in the Capability Approach

Conclusions

Epilogue

O autorze

Tadashi Hirai is Project Researcher in the University of Tokyo, Japan, and a supervisor specializing in the human development approach and the human development index at the University of Cambridge, UK.

Blurb

This book examines the main reasons for the success of the human development approach as an alternative to the economic growth model of development. Is human development theoretically richer, as claimed by its advocates, than any other development concepts including the mainstream? Is its measurement, the human development index (HDI), better than other proposed indices of well-being? Is there anything to be revised to keep its influence for the future? The methodology used throughout this book follows a historical and institutional approach on the ground that human development cannot be understood without taking into account the complexities added by the formation process. Quite often, human development debates are either theoretical and prescriptive or empirical and descriptive. Instead, this book provides a ‘meso-analysis’ of human development by means of a more pragmatic historical and institutional methodology, avoiding the other two extremes that have already been covered by philosophers and field-experts.