Amartya Sen’s Political Philosophy of Development and Micro-credit in Bangladesh

Abstract

Amartya Sen (co-author with Jean Drèze) in An Uncertain Glory: India and Its Contradictions (2013) seemingly glorifies the roles of non-government organizations (NGOs) in Bangladesh’s better progress in many common aspects of societal development than India although Bangladesh is half as well-off in income per capita as India. This glorification of the roles of NGOs in Bangladesh leads Sen (2013) to leaving out and/or deemphasizing some issues related to the micro-credit model of NGOs, which is the primary subject-matter of this study. In other words, the main objective of this study is to show that Sen (2013) is not entirely correct in his apparent glorification of the roles of NGOs in Bangladesh. To this end, I will argue that the micro-credit model of NGOs in Bangladesh is based on the idea of a supposedly trusting relationship between NGOs and rural poor women which is questionable for four associated reasons. The first reason is that the sort of trust Bangladeshi NGOs claim they have in rural poor women in offering loans without collateral is not genuine trust. The second reason is a modification of the first. If NGO-touted trust is trust of any kind, it is at most strategic trust and semi-particularized trust, not generalized trust. Hence, it has some consequences which are epistemically, politically, and ethically wrong. The third reason is that the kind of trust NGOs in Bangladesh put in rural poor women disturbs social solidarity. Relevantly, I will argue that NGOs’ strict supervision of rural poor women may have many psychological impacts on rural poor women that cause unfortunate strife among group members; that, in turn, hampers group relations. Lastly, the so-called trusting relationship between Bangladeshi NGOs and rural poor women reduces people’s capabilities because NGOs remain unaccountable and not transparent for their activities for the most part.