Transformation without Paternalism

John Davis and Tom Wells ()
Additional contact information
Tom Wells: Leiden University

No 2016-01, Working Papers and Research from Marquette University, Center for Global and Economic Studies and Department of Economics

Abstract: Human development is meant to be transformational in that it aims to improve people’s lives by enhancing their capabilities. But who does it target: people as they are or the people they will become? This paper argues that the human development approach relies on an understanding of personal identity as dynamic rather than as static collections of preferences, and that this distinguishes human development from conventional approaches to development. Nevertheless this dynamic understanding of personal identity is presently poorly conceptualized and this has implications for development practice. We identify a danger of paternalism and propose institutionalizing two procedural principles as side constraints on development policies and projects: the principle of free prior informed consent, and the principle of democratic development.

Keywords: human development policy; personal identity; paternalism; informed consent; autonomy; democracy; capability approach (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 D99 L31 O15 O29 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016-01
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hme, nep-hpe, nep-pke and nep-ppm
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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http://epublications.marquette.edu/econ_workingpapers/51 (application/pdf)

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Journal Article: Transformation Without Paternalism (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:mrq:wpaper:2016-01

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