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Nasir Khan, University of Auckland, New Zealand
A person’s acquired state of wellbeing is, therefore, not the
sole concern of the CA. In her/his agential capacities, the
state to which a person aspires as a sensible human being is
also accounted for in the capabilities space. An individual is
therefore not seen only in her/his capacity as a passive
recipient but also as an active agent who commands control
over the things she/he values (Sen 2000).
The spectrum of human development, seen through the lens
of CA encompasses the enhancement of people’s
entitlements and capabilities by broadening the scope of
their functionings. The presence of various impediments to
functionings is seen as obstacles in the exercise of their
latent abilities. An all-encompassing development process
sufficiently broadens the domain of freedoms for each
individual to accord opportunity for transforming latent
capacities into the desired achievements (Sen 2000).
Capabilities could therefore be seen as the space of
available choices, both exercised and potential, which
enables to live a life as one values, in accordance with
the prevailing personal circumstances. The following
figure elaborates the informational space envisaged by the
CA.
The ovals in the figure represent the structural components
of the capabilities space while the rectangles depict the
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