Jérôme Ballet

Social Capital and Natural Resource Management A Critical Perspective

This article explores the reasons why community-based natural resource management is not necessarily a panacea. One reason may be that the communitarian benefits associated with social capital formation generally focus on the structural approach (e.g., network connections, group size) and too rarely take into consideration the underlying cultural context in which these relationships are embedded. Using Bourdieus seminal framework for the different forms of capital (social, cultural, and symbolic), it indeed appears that (a) social capital is costly to produce and (b) its outcomes on resource management depend highly on the cultural capital (values, norms, etc.) in which it exists. The reference to Bourdieus social capital helps to introduce the analysis of power relationships in community-based natural resource management.

Responsibility for Each Other's Freedom: Agency as the Source of Collective Capability

This paper tries to extend Sens capability approach by introducing the issues of personal responsibility and collective capability, in addition to those of individual capability and collective responsibility. In addressing the issue of the subjects responsibility, we turn to the phenomenological tradition. This approach uses the concept of the person rather than that of the individual. In the analytical philosophy tradition the individual is defined by a set of freedoms and capabilities. The phenomenological approach, in contrast, views the person as embedded in a network of social relationships that determine a set of rights and obligations. In most situations, personal obligations have to be satisfied before the person can move on to satisfy his/her rights and freedoms. This means that freedom is viewed as being derived from responsibility, thus inversing the order of the capability approach. The subjects responsibility becomes fundamental, and a part of the ‘richness’ of the person. Responsibility expresses the capability to feel and be responsible, not only ex‐post (i.e. once freedom has been exercised), but also ex‐ante, by the capacity to exercise self‐constraint on a voluntary basis in order to satisfy ones obligations towards others. Within his or her structure of capabilities, the person has to manage the twofold interacting sets of freedoms and responsibilities during the decision‐making process. When we consider the persons agency, introducing responsibility leads, via commitment and social interactions, to a stronger vision of agency. However, this vision, which includes responsibility and social interactions, generates a collective capability that can be represented by a structure composed of the various personal capability structures.

Sustainable Human Development and the Capability Approach: Integrating Environment, Responsibility and Collective Agency

The purpose of this paper is to address three major shortcomings of Sens capability approach with regard to sustainability: (i) First, the weakness of the ecological dimension of the capability framework. This can be overcome by devising a place where it is possible to relate the intrinsic and instrumental values of Nature; (ii) Second, the issue of responsibility, which is only considered from a consequentialist viewpoint by Sen (i.e. ex-post responsibility). Such a restrictive view can be extended by adding the ex-ante dimension of responsibility; (iii) Third, the relationship between the individual and collective levels. This can be overcome by introducing the idea of collective agency. Overcoming these limitations makes it possible to fully integrate the ecological dimension into an extended vision of the capability approach which makes it consistent with strong sustainability, and which leads to a new definition of the agent as a responsible person acting so as to generate sustainable human development.

Children’s Agency and the Capability Approach: A Conceptual Framework

The aim of this chapter is to explore the possibilities for fruitfully using the capability approach (CA) as a theoretical foundation for understanding children as subjects of human development. This means considering children not simply as recipients of freedoms, but as active social actors and agents in their communities with their own priorities, strategies and aspirations. By doing so, we hope to contribute to the current theoretical debate on the assessment of children’s well-being with a simple and useful framework. Our overarching goal is to improve policies towards children’s well-being.

Is child labour a substitute for adult labour?: A case study of brick kiln workers in Tamil Nadu, India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to highlight that child labour is complementary to adult labour in the brick kiln industry.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents a case study of bonded labourers in the brick kiln industry of Southeast India.Findings – The paper finds that child labour is used by parents in the moulding process in order to avoid falling into debt bondage. In this industry, brick making is organized as a home‐based enterprise. Thus, child labour increases the family productivity and consequently its income. In case of a ban on child labour bonded parents will be worse‐off. NGOs can play an essential role by preventing families from falling into bondage and by improving their living standards.Originality/value – The results may help the NGOs address child labour issues in the developing world.

The Capability Approach and Research on Children: Capability Approach and Children’s Issues

The objective of this chapter is to show that the Capability Approach can serve as an appropriate conceptual framework and a normative tool to analyse children’s well-being and other relevant children’s issues. To meet this objective, the second section reviews the literature on children and the Capability Approach with a special focus on empirical analyses. The third section concentrates on the capability framework and on how “new” concepts need to be introduced within it to improve the analysis of children’s issues. The fourth section reinforces our observations by recalling some of our main initial empirical findings and the conclusions reiterate some of the core results.

Introduction — Theoretical Foundations and the Book’s Roadmap

Childhood and adolescence are periods in life that are distinct for a variety of reasons. It is during the early years of life that individuals experience the most important cognitive and emotional developments that subsequently shape their identity and world-views. The capabilities of children and adolescents are formed through social interaction and receptiveness within the household and broader environments, and constitute to a large extent the foundation of a human being’s development. This means that understanding and assessing children’s and adolescents’ well-being cannot successfully be pursued by viewing them as miniature adults. Moreover, understanding adults’ well-being might not be possible without reference to these early stages in life. As a result, what might appear to be a simple technical question — namely, what is the most appropriate way of assessing children’s well-being? — may turn out to be a real challenge. To help address this challenge, this book develops the capability approach (CA) as a conceptual framework for understanding children’s well-being.

Child Labor and Responsible Consumers: From Boycotts to Social Labels, Illustrated by the Indian Hand-Knotted Carpet Industry

The basic strategy for the fight against child labor has been boycotting efforts followed by labeling practices. This article reviews the development of these practices and their impact on the hand-knotted carpet industry in India. The authors highlight the fact that though labeling has responded to many of the criticisms of boycotts, labeling too has shortcomings related to its trustworthiness in situations where information is highly asymmetrical among stakeholders. The labeling may lack credibility and, thus, arguably, has limited impact on the hand-knotted carpet industry. The article discusses why and how labeling may lack credibility. Since the article is a conceptual assessment and not an empirical study, it draws on other sources for relevant empirical information.

Vulnerability to Violence of "Talibe" Children in Mauritania.

Talibés are children sent to Quranic schools, which are also known as daaras. The term talibé is a French word derived rom the Arabic tâlib, meaning a person seeking knowledge. According to Cruise O’Brien (1969, 1970) the phenomenon of he talibés originated in the Muslim brotherhoods founded by Amadou Bamba, brotherhoods that began to proliferate from 880. This was a widespread phenomenon in French-speaking West Africa. These daaras should not be confused with medersas. Daaras are completely independent establishments and are virtually ntirely devoted to study of the Quran, whereas medersas are funded by the government and are virtually state schools. edersas are also religious (Islamic) schools, but they also teach secular subjects, such as languages, mathematics, history, eography, etc. Furthermore, in daaras, young boys are sent away from home for a couple of years and placed in the care of Quranic teacher, which is not normally the case for Medersas. In our study, we only considered daaras. Based on the principle that the disciple or talibé cannot hope to reach paradise, that is, achieve beatitude, without the ssistance of a master (or Sheikh), the disciple submits himself entirely to his master. In particular, the principle of disciples reely giving work or money to the master is what allows the master to earn a living by acting as a spiritual guide. However, his principle of a freely given gift soon turned into a “religious tax” as a result of changes in the economy, and the advent f a market economy. Neither the disciples nor their masters could escape the needs arising from the market economy. heir new needs made disciples became increasingly reluctant to give freely, and so the masters introduced a system of ompulsory payment. The master, who is also known as the marabout, takes complete responsibility for the child and his education, thus freeing he parents from the task of providing an education. In exchange for this, the master or marabout demands payment. This ayment can take the form of money or payment in kind (usually food, but livestock in some cases) from the parents, and oney obtained by the child by means of begging.

Final Remarks and Conclusions: The Promotion of Children’s Active Participation

This book tries to show that a new conceptual framework and shift in policy design is required to help promote children’s well-being and enhance their “evolving capabilities”. The arguments in this book have been developed and refined following workshops, seminars and conferences held over a number of years and are likely to be the subject of future debate. The chapters in this book represent a wide range of perspectives and have been written by people from various countries with different disciplinary backgrounds, methodologies and life experiences. However, all are committed to working towards a more just world in which children can be respected as active agents in their own right. For this reason we would like to end this book with some thoughts that put our commitment to changing the world through a “child-centred CA” into perspective. We also reflect on the goals that need to be achieved to make this a reality.