Comparative Study on Applying the Capability Approach to Poverty in Asia And Africa

本研究旨在将Amarta Sen的能力方法应用于亚洲和非洲的贫困问题，并将重点从经济导向的发展转向以人为本的发展。能力是阿玛蒂亚·森和玛莎·努斯鲍姆提出的一个概念，目的是比收入等其他概念更恰当地反映人类的幸福。尽管许多人在日本提到它，但许多人误解了它，可能是因为它的日语翻译。这项研究的结果之一是指出了它被误解的原因。基于这一分析，我们试图通过一系列研讨会、出版物和其他手段来纠正这种误解。努斯鲍姆的《妇女与人类发展》的日文译本就是其中之一。在此理论分析的基础上，我们对森的正义理论进行了哲学分析，进而讨论了与善与正义概念差异有关的贫困问题。在进行这些理论分析的同时，我们还在越南(Ikemoto)、孟加拉国(松井和Ikemoto)、中国(Sato)、非洲(More)和韩国(Yun)进行了实地调研，并分别在各自领域发表了许多论文和书籍，如下所示。通过将能力方法应用于日本日益加剧的不平等问题，我们的分析范围扩大到日本。我们每年都参加由人类发展与能力协会(HDCA)举办的能力方法国际会议，并邀请该协会和发展中国家的学者在东京举行国际会议。这些会议的一个重要发现是，来自不同学科的许多学者对能力方法感兴趣，并可以整合到一个更大的能力框架中。

This research aimed to apply Amarta Sen's capability approach to the problems of poverty in Asia and Africa and to shift the focus from economy-oriented development to human-oriented one. Capability is a concept proposed by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum to capture human well-being more appropriately than others such as income. Even though many people refer to it in Japan, many of them misunderstand it because of, perhaps, its Japanese translation. One of the results of this research was to show the causes how it is misunderstood. Based on this analysis we tried to correct this misunderstanding by a series of seminars, publications and other means. The Japanese translation of Nussbaum's Women and Human Development was among them. On this theoretical analysis we proceeded to our philosophical analysis on Sen's theory of justice and then discussed on poverty relating to the conceptual differences in goodness and rightness.While conducting these theoretical analyses, we also conducted our field research in Vietnam (Ikemoto), Bangladesh (Matsui and Ikemoto), China (Sato), Africa (Mine) and South Korea (Yun) and published many papers and books in their fields respectively as listed below. Our analysis expanded our scope to Japan by applying the capability approach to the problems of rising inequality in Japan.We have attended the international conferences of the capability approach held by HDCA (Human Development and Capability Association) every year and invited scholars from this association and from developing countries to hold international conferences in Tokyo. An important finding of these conferences is that many scholars from different disciplines are interested in the capability approach and can be integrated into a larger framework of capability.