ABSTRACT
The connection between international development and the expansion of social and individual freedoms has been made by theorists and practitioners of development since at least the end of the Second World War. However, despite this close rhetorical and theoretical connection, actual development projects have, at best, mixed results in terms of their engagement with interested stakeholders, especially those from traditionally marginalized groups. In this chapter I examine the continued need for theorists and practitioners of international development to take the questions of agency, participation, and democratic empowerment seriously, with a special focus on the arguments and implications of David Crocker’s agency-focused version of the capability approach.
