Huang - Blog Post 12

In Development as Freedom, Amartya Sen argues against the standard approach to development that most economists uphold — one that emphasizes economic measures of development (GDP, income) as the primary measure of development as a whole. Instead of focusing primarily on economic development, Sen argues that it is crucial to consider several components of freedom to measure development. One of the components that Sen focuses on is ensuring political freedoms in the form of democracy. In fact, he highlights that there has never been a “substantial famine… in a democratic country — no matter how poor” (51). Sen’s argument strongly urges against “the need for resources (which) is frequently presented as an argument for postponing socially important investments until a country is already richer” (47). 

While arguing for democracy as a crucial aspect of measuring development is a persuasive one, Sen’s argument suffers from lacking a definition of what he means by democracy. Does he argue for a value-based democracy like the one that Brettschneider outlines? Or does he argue for a pure procedural democracy (majoritarianism)? Or does he argue for Jurgen Habermas Theory of Deliberative Democracy? Which form of democracy acts as a substantial tool for adjudicating among conflicting preferences, according to Sen? 

The framework of what is meant by democracy is important because choosing one form over another can expose Sen’s argument to different challenges. Specifically, one of the reasons for needing a democracy stems from the understanding that people have heterogeneous preferences, so which direction of protecting freedoms and what people choose to spend their capabilities on can be different. The particular direction that a society chooses to expand freedoms is justified if the people consent to that direction via democracy. However, for instance, if majoritarianism is the form of democracy that Sen advocates for, then Sen fails to escape the very challenges that he outlines in Chapter two when he explains the US government’s failure to protect Black men’s freedoms in the same way that many other Americans’ freedoms are. Majoritarianism often fails minority groups. On the other hand, Brettschneider’s value-theory of democracy might be more successful in avoiding those failures. The value-theory of democracy prioritizes three specific values: equality of interests, political autonomy, and reciprocity.