Call for Papers "Knowledge and Public Action: Education, Responsibility, Collective Agency, Equity" 5th International Conference on the Capability Approach Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) Paris (France) 11-14 Septembre 2005
The Human Development and Capability Association (HDCA) will organise the 5th annual Conference on the Capability Approach next September 2005 in Paris and Versailles, France, with the support of: - the Centre of Economics and Ethics for Environment and Development (University of Versailles) - the Division for the Promotion of Quality Education, UNESCO - the French Institute for Research on Development (IRD) - the French Agency for Development (AFD) - the IMPACT Network on public policies against poverty and inequality As for the previous years, the following institutions are associated to the organisation of this conference: - the Interdepartmental Centre for Social Philosophy and the European School for Advanced Studies in Cooperation and Development (University of Pavia) - the Capability and Sustainability Centre, Von Hugel Institute, (University of Cambridge) - the International Institute for Sustainable Development (Canada) - the Global Equity Initiative (Harvard University) The conference will consist of four types of sessions: 1. The training sessions will review the basic concepts of the capability approach and applied work related to education, public actions and measurement. These sessions are set up before the start of the conference, i.e. in the afternoon of Sunday 11th September. 2. The parallel sessions are for the presentation and discussion of the full academic papers. These will be distributed according to a few key topics as underlined by the participants themselves through the papers sent. 3. The plenary sessions will focus on the main conference theme Knowledge and Public Action and the related sub-themes Education, Responsibility, Collective Agency and Equity. Keynote speakers will debate the fundamental issues. 4. The posters sessions will allow researchers and practitioners to present on-going research and project. This conference, like the previous ones in Cambridge and Pavia, is open to all economists, philosophers, social and political scientists, development experts, policy makers, and graduate students, who are developing and actively applying the capability approach, for instance to the human development paradigm. It intends to serve as an ongoing forum for intellectual innovation, communication and collaboration, dealing with these topics, with reference to the work initiated by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. These scholars will contribute to the conference. Therefore all scholars whose research is extending the capability approach, both its conceptual basis, through theoretical as empirical studies and through field operations, are welcome to this event. They will have the opportunity to debate ideas and projects together. While the papers may come from any discipline and may be theoretical, applied, or policy-based, every paper must fundamentally engage with applying, extending, or criticising the capability approach. This can be done through the human development paradigm and address topics such as: - Philosophical and ethical foundations - Basic capabilities, human development, adaptive preferences - Poverty, inequality, distribution, justice - Ecosystems and the environment - Public actions, public debate and democratic practice - Education and knowledge - Health, AIDS and disability - Culture, identity, religious matters - Collective agency and public policies - Micro and macro vision of social sustainability - Capability measurement and empirical analysis We will adjust the categories of the parallel sessions according to the content of the papers received. So if you are engaged in important research using the capability approach with respect to another topic, do not hesitate to submit it. Naturally, we are seeking high quality research papers that explicitly carry forward some of the signal insights of the capability approach and the human development paradigm. Papers critical of this approach are equally welcome. The special theme of this year conference is "Knowledge and Public Action". It includes four research directions, on which participants are encouraged to submit papers. 1. Quality Education In order to improve the quality of education and contribute to the decade on education for sustainable development, four key pillars are considered: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together, all in qualitative and quantitative ways, referring to the persons' psycho-social capabilities (i.e. life-skills). These would guide the design of appropriate programs to overcome disability, AIDS and more generally all forms of vulnerability; but also, within a long term perspective to protect ecological environment and social participation. 2. Responsibility as Source of Freedom The issue is to understand how possible it is to increase the level of personal freedoms while facing social obligations and responsibility. How do capability, freedom and responsibility relate altogether? This may require to re-examine the definition of the individual vs. the person, to combine ethical principles from the Good and from the Just, in order to design the appropriate public policies which will aim at expanding people's capability 3. Collective Agency, Personal Capabilities, Institutions The concept of agency helps relating collective actions to the capability approach. However, how could we link the micro level of the person and the household to the meso level of social groups and institutions, in order to reach the macro thinking at the level of regions and State? Public policies geared towards a sustainable human development really need to consider and interrelate these various levels of analysis. 4. Public Action and Sharing with Equity How would the capability approach be related to the sustainable view of development? Is it by ensuring an equitable distribution of capabilities within a generation or through an equitable transfer of capabilities from one generation to the other? What would be then the required processes of social protection, sharing and redistribution that would ensure social sustainability? The deadline for the submission of a paper proposal is the 1st April 2005. All proposals will be reviewed by the Conference Scientific Committee and notice of acceptance of the papers will be sent by early May 2005. Then the full papers are expected on the 1st July 2005. Due to the large number of expected papers, it is important to respect these two dates. Proposals and papers which are not received by the deadlines will be rejected or eventually put in the poster sessions. For submitting proposals, please use the application form that should be sent to Jean-Luc Dubois ([email protected]). The Conference Scientific Committee is composed of: Arun Abraham, University of Pennsylvania, USA Sabina Alkire, Global Equity Initiative, Harvard University, USA Jérôme Ballet, Université de Versailles, France Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti, University of Pavia, Italy Flavio Comim, Capability and Sustainability Centre, St. Edmund's College, Cambridge, UK Séverine Deneulin, St. Edmund's College, Cambridge, UK Jean Luc Dubois, Centre d'Economie et d'Ethique pour l'Environnement et le Développement, Institute of Research for Development (IRD), France Anantha K. Duraiappah, International Institute for Sustainable Development, Winnipeg, Canada Reiko Gotoh, Ritsumeikan University, Japan Anna-Maria Hoffmann, UNESCO, Paris Jean-Pierre Lachaud, Université de Bordeaux, France François-Régis Mahieu, Université de Versailles, France Mozaffar Qizilbash, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK Ingrid Robeyns, University of Amsterdam, Netherlands The conference fees will be around 260 euros for academicians and professionals and 120 euros for scholars from LDC's and students. The cost of accommodation in hotels will be around 80 euros per night and in university rooms around 60 euros per night. People who wish to be considered for financial assistance should fill out the relevant section of the application form. Since fellowships are scarce, they will be required to submit their papers in time. More detailed information about the conference organisation, as well as transport and accommodation facilities, will be posted after the 1st of May on the conference web site: http://www.hd-ca.org/conference For any further information, please contact: Jean-Luc Dubois Centre d'Economie et d'Ethique pour l'Environnement et le Développement (C3ED) Université de Versailles St. Quentin en Yvelines (UVSQ) 47 Bd Vauban 78047 Guyancourt Cedex France Tel: +33.1.39.25.56.86 Fax: +33.1.39.25.53.00 Email: [email protected] _________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org/ Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://agd.polylog.org/cal/
