ABSTRACT
Development processes are inherently normative. They always involve ethical judgments about what constitutes ‘good’ or ‘desirable’ change. Because ethical judgments are concerned with what should be done, laying bare the normative judgments at play, discussing what counts as development and how it can be assessed is key to designing, evaluating, and legitimising public policies. This chapter offers an overview of the capability approach, one of the most important conceptual frameworks that has contributed to this ethical debate and compares it to other evaluative perspectives used in development policy. Some reasons are given as to why a capability view of development provides the most compelling ethical framework to date for dealing with the practical and normative questions that development processes raise. The approach is presented as an interdisciplinary evaluative framework which views concerns for well-being, equity, rights, agency and participation, freedom, and justice as central to the theory and practice of development. The chapter concludes by highlighting some controversies within the capability approach and important new directions.
