Imagining Development: The Chilean Dictatorship and the Case for Political Freedom as a Factor in the Human Development Index

Natalia Niedmann Álvarez

Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 2020, vol. 21, issue 2, 121-136

Abstract: Should political liberties be included in the Human Development Report? Their brief and controversial debut on the report between 1991 and 1993 seemed to close the door for political liberty measurements because of their technical difficulties. Yet, political freedoms seem to be ever more urgent capabilities. This paper intends to reopen the debate on whether political freedoms should be incorporated into the Human Development Report. It uses the Chilean dictatorship's example to reflect on how development is inevitably trumped without them. After briefly responding to some of the main criticisms political freedoms measurements have encompassed the paper proposes an additional reason to incorporate them: they portray the only truly collective capability, representing an essential aspect of human existence which is now absent from the Report.

Date: 2020
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:jhudca:v:21:y:2020:i:2:p:121-136

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DOI: 10.1080/19452829.2020.1736530

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