The human development approach emerged in the late 1980s in response to the negative effects of s... more The human development approach emerged in the late 1980s in response to the negative effects of structural adjustment programmes applied to countries in the South. Led originally by two South Asian scholars, Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, in cooperation with a large international network, the approach
Thinking about ethics of development and human development must both treat development in a globa... more Thinking about ethics of development and human development must both treat development in a global perspective and yet reflect on the content of human. This paper explores some faces of globalization by using a gender perspective, in order to consider reproduction ( ...
The Institute of Social Studies is Europe’s longest-established centre of higher education and re... more The Institute of Social Studies is Europe’s longest-established centre of higher education and research in development studies. Post-graduate teaching programmes range from six-week diploma courses to the PhD programme. Research at ISS is fundamental in the sense of laying a scientific basis for the formulation of appropriate development policies. The academic work of ISS is disseminated in the form of books, journal articles, teaching texts, monographs and working papers. The Working Paper series provides a forum for work in progress which seeks to elicit comments and generate discussion. The series includes academic research by staff, PhD participants and visiting fellows, and award-winning research papers by graduate students. Working Papers are available in electronic format at www.iss.nl/workingpapers.
Sustainability, Capabilities and Human Security, 2020
Responding to climate change needs a global perspective that combines emphases on the dignity and... more Responding to climate change needs a global perspective that combines emphases on the dignity and worth of all people and co-membership in a finite, breakable socio-ecology. A philosophy that defends the victims of climate change must help counteract some major mirages: first, the nest of national identity conceived in such a way that we see ourselves as separate from, even immune and indifferent to, the misfortunes elsewhere in the world; second, the dream of endless growth, economic and technological, that will enable ‘us’—whether conceived as particular national islands or particular affluent groups and persons—to avoid shared planetary boundaries and the dangers of breaching them; and, third, our ability to screen out unpalatable information or questions, including about the fate of ‘marginal’ groups. Theorizing sustainable human development requires therefore more than the language of capabilities and freedoms to which human development analysis is sometimes reduced. It needs human rights ethical principles and a human security frame. The former asserts the value of each person and the wrongness of harm to others caused by careless production and heedless luxury consumption. Human security thinking directs attention to limits, interconnectedness, vulnerabilities and possible threats, and how what is ‘human’ includes dependence on each other and on a global ecology. Together they provide routes into reflecting on and counteracting toxic forms of nationalism, exclusivist group identity, consumerism and their drivers.
This paper explores kidney sellers’ perspectives and the process of decision-making in some villa... more This paper explores kidney sellers’ perspectives and the process of decision-making in some villages of Bangladesh. We examine the organ sellers’ degree of freedom in relation to what they value to achieve, identify its limits, and see how those lead them to the choice of organ-selling. Selling decisions are made in a context where some people lack adequate material and social resources to secure a livelihood, face a never-ending quest for means to manage and transform their lives, and are enmeshed in constraining relationships within social and economic power systems. These conditions have contributed to the institutionalization of kidney-selling, a form of bodily self-exploitation, as a now routine practice amongst the poorest groups in some areas. Consistent with most other findings, we find in these locations that while kidney sale is based on hope of resources to confront the precariousness of livelihoods, it is frequently experienced as a nightmare of life-long disaster, that ...
The human development approach emerged in the late 1980s in response to the negative effects of s... more The human development approach emerged in the late 1980s in response to the negative effects of structural adjustment programmes applied to countries in the South. Led originally by two South Asian scholars, Mahbub ul Haq and Amartya Sen, in cooperation with a large international network, the approach
Thinking about ethics of development and human development must both treat development in a globa... more Thinking about ethics of development and human development must both treat development in a global perspective and yet reflect on the content of human. This paper explores some faces of globalization by using a gender perspective, in order to consider reproduction ( ...
The Institute of Social Studies is Europe’s longest-established centre of higher education and re... more The Institute of Social Studies is Europe’s longest-established centre of higher education and research in development studies. Post-graduate teaching programmes range from six-week diploma courses to the PhD programme. Research at ISS is fundamental in the sense of laying a scientific basis for the formulation of appropriate development policies. The academic work of ISS is disseminated in the form of books, journal articles, teaching texts, monographs and working papers. The Working Paper series provides a forum for work in progress which seeks to elicit comments and generate discussion. The series includes academic research by staff, PhD participants and visiting fellows, and award-winning research papers by graduate students. Working Papers are available in electronic format at www.iss.nl/workingpapers.
Sustainability, Capabilities and Human Security, 2020
Responding to climate change needs a global perspective that combines emphases on the dignity and... more Responding to climate change needs a global perspective that combines emphases on the dignity and worth of all people and co-membership in a finite, breakable socio-ecology. A philosophy that defends the victims of climate change must help counteract some major mirages: first, the nest of national identity conceived in such a way that we see ourselves as separate from, even immune and indifferent to, the misfortunes elsewhere in the world; second, the dream of endless growth, economic and technological, that will enable ‘us’—whether conceived as particular national islands or particular affluent groups and persons—to avoid shared planetary boundaries and the dangers of breaching them; and, third, our ability to screen out unpalatable information or questions, including about the fate of ‘marginal’ groups. Theorizing sustainable human development requires therefore more than the language of capabilities and freedoms to which human development analysis is sometimes reduced. It needs human rights ethical principles and a human security frame. The former asserts the value of each person and the wrongness of harm to others caused by careless production and heedless luxury consumption. Human security thinking directs attention to limits, interconnectedness, vulnerabilities and possible threats, and how what is ‘human’ includes dependence on each other and on a global ecology. Together they provide routes into reflecting on and counteracting toxic forms of nationalism, exclusivist group identity, consumerism and their drivers.
This paper explores kidney sellers’ perspectives and the process of decision-making in some villa... more This paper explores kidney sellers’ perspectives and the process of decision-making in some villages of Bangladesh. We examine the organ sellers’ degree of freedom in relation to what they value to achieve, identify its limits, and see how those lead them to the choice of organ-selling. Selling decisions are made in a context where some people lack adequate material and social resources to secure a livelihood, face a never-ending quest for means to manage and transform their lives, and are enmeshed in constraining relationships within social and economic power systems. These conditions have contributed to the institutionalization of kidney-selling, a form of bodily self-exploitation, as a now routine practice amongst the poorest groups in some areas. Consistent with most other findings, we find in these locations that while kidney sale is based on hope of resources to confront the precariousness of livelihoods, it is frequently experienced as a nightmare of life-long disaster, that ...
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Papers by Des Gasper