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SUMMARY:'Human-centred' development? Rethinking 'freedom' and 'agency' - P
 rofessor David Chandler\, Research Director of the Centre for the Study of
  Democracy\, University of  Westminster
DTSTART:20120518T130000Z
DTEND:20120518T150000Z
UID:TALK38006@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:28397
DESCRIPTION:David Chandler is Professor of International Relations at the 
 University of Westminster. His researches focuses on new forms of internat
 ional intervention\, particularly those projected in humanitarian\, therap
 eutic\, ethical and human rights language. His books include 'Empire in De
 nial: The Politics of State-Building'\; 'From Kosovo to Kabul (and Beyond)
 : Human Rights and International Intervention'\; and 'Bosnia: Faking Democ
 racy after Dayton'.\n\n*Abstract*: Today’s dominant discourses of intern
 ational development increasingly focus on human agency as the measure of d
 evelopment in terms of individual capabilities. The individualized underst
 anding of development takes a ‘human-centred’ or ‘agent-orientated
 ’ view of the barriers to development. This paper seeks to critically en
 gage with the view of the human and of human agency articulated within thi
 s approach. In this discourse\, development is taken out of an economic co
 ntext of GDP growth or industrialization\, or a social and political conte
 xt\, in which development policies are shaped by social and political pres
 sures or state-led policies. Foucault’s work on the disappearance or inv
 isibility of power\, particularly as articulated through the shift towards
  biopolitical frameworks of liberal governmentality – focusing on the ir
 reducible decision-making subject – ‘the rationality of the governed
 ’ will be used to critically engage with the capabilities approach. This
  paper genealogically draws out the changing nature of western discourses 
 of development\nand the understanding of policy practices as promoting the
  empowerment of the post-colonial other in order to examine how developmen
 t and autonomy have been radically differently articulated in discourses o
 f Western power and how today’s discursive framing feeds on and transfor
 ms colonial and early postcolonial approaches to the human subject.\n\nPap
 er available in advance. For copies please email Dr. Alastair Fraser (af44
 1@cam.ac.uk)
LOCATION:Room S1\, Alison Richard Building\, Sidgwick Site\, 7 West Rd\, C
 B3 9DT
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