Browsing by Author "Bebbington, A."

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  • Capitals and capabilities: A framework for analyzing peasant viability, rural livelihoods and poverty
    Bebbington, A. (London, UK: IIED, 1999)
    This paper presents an analytical framework for analyzing the sustainability of rural livelihoods. It is argued that one reason projects fail is because of lack ability to understand the way people get by. The article defines livelihoods in terms of access to "capital" assets, which are produced, human, natural, social and cultural. Assets are more than a way to make a living; it is also a way to give meaning to the person's world. There is a need to understand a) assets access b) how people transform assets into livelihoods to meet their needs, c) how assets are expanded through the network, d) how people are able to organize and enhance their ability to negotiate power relations. Social capital is seen as an important asset that facilitates peoples' access to resources and networks; it is an empowering asset.
  • Exploring social capital debates at the World Bank
    Bebbington, A.; Guggenheim, S.; Olson, E.; Woolcock, Michael (Taylor & Francis Ltd., 2004)
    This article explores the ways in which discussion of social capital have emerged within the World Bank, and how they interacted both with project practices and with larger debates in the institution. These debates are understood as a "battlefield of knowledge," whose form and outcomes are structured but not determined by the political economy of the Bank. Understanding the debates this way has implications for research on the ways in which development discourses are produced and enacted, as well as for more specific discussions of the place of social capital in development studies. The article concludes with a reflection on implications of these debates for future research, policy, and practice.