Bringing politics back into the human development discourse: a critical insight of the capability approach

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between the capability approach and the human development discourse. My argument is that, in order to become a social practice, the human development discourse should introduce the concept of responsibility in the assessment of inequalities. Along these lines, the controversy between the Indian economist Amartya Sen and the American philosopher Martha Nussbaum has enriched our understanding of the public policies that suit the aims of human development best. However, their defense of public reason as a mechanism of social change seems to be insufficient because it does not pay attention to power relationships. This is one of the main weaknesses of the human development paradigm, and the only way to deal with it is to bring politics back into the human development discourse. In order to do so, I will propose the concept of "communicative empowerment" as a collective capability. This concept is designed to articulate three kinds of social practices: 1) the rising of awareness concerning inequalities; 2) the resource mobilization in order to promote collective action; 3) the social participation of the people on the public definition of "social problems". Each of these practices is orientated to reinforce the public commitment with human well-being and social justice.