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31 - The Capability Approach and Human Rights

from Part III - Issues in Public Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2020

By
Polly Vizard
Edited by
Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti ,
Siddiqur Osmani  and
Mozaffar Qizilbash
Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti
Affiliation:
University of Pavia
Siddiqur Osmani
Affiliation:
Ulster University
Mozaffar Qizilbash
Affiliation:
University of York
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Summary

This chapter examines the connections between the capability approach and human rights. It considers the links between the capability approach and the international human rights framework and discusses the treatment of the relationship between capabilities and human rights within Sen’s research agenda, Nussbaum’s work and the broader literature on the capability approach. Interdisciplinary perspectives spanning law, ethics, public policy and political economy are addressed, and four distinct ‘entry-points’ for examining the connections between the capability approach and human rights are explored. The first focuses on the capability approach as an ‘informational space’ for human rights monitoring, assessment and evaluation. The second focuses on normative concerns and the importance of the capability concept for theoretical thinking about human rights. The third focuses on practical initiatives that explicitly combine the capability approach and human rights as a basis for specific applications and public policies. The fourth addresses the instrumental role that human rights recognitions play within processes of capability expansion (as elements of public action and as mechanisms of broader social change).

Keywords

capability approachhuman rightsinternational human rights frameworkinterdisciplinary researchpublic action
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach , pp. 624 - 642
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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