Chapter 30 Chapter Summary

This chapter introduces some of the major areas in ethics of national and global development: asking what is the nature of well-being and ill-being and what should be meant by desirable “development”; considering ideas about equitable distribution of the costs and benefits from change; assessing debates around what are ethically legitimate rights and the responsibilities in relation to infringement of those rights; and underlying all these, examining how concepts of development typically contain and depend on values and on conceptions of the elements of living as a human being. It discusses examples that reflect central development themes, including: appropriation of valuable natural resources, as in the colonization of the Americas; displacement of resident populations, as in major infrastructure investments and mining projects; and the global operations of huge businesses and their associated human rights obligations. It presents also some tools for value-sensitive observation and critical analysis and for connecting such concerns to practical action.