Entitlements Analysis: Relating Concepts and Contexts

Sen's entitlements approach has attracted much attention and imitation, including attempted extensions beyond its original context in the explanation of famines. It has evolved in various ways as it is applied to new regions, purposes and subjects – beyond South Asia, to policy design and to matters of routine hunger, environment, gender and overall intra-societal distribution. For analysis of famines, the approach provides a valuable set of concepts and questions in explanation and policy design; but it gives a general frame rather than a comprehensive theory or detailed explanatory model. For wider subjects, this general approach – a socially disaggregated, institutionally aware analysis of effective command over specific necessities – is again valuable. However, difficulties may arise with its concept of ‘entitlement relations’, and with confusions related to the label and the referent of the ‘entitlement’ concept, and to the original ‘exchange entitlement’ label. Sen's concepts and labels reflected, naturally enough, the purposes in his study of the 1940s Bengal famine and its specific conditions. A modified set of concepts and labels may be more helpful, together with an underlining of the variety of contexts and of the limits to any one theoretical frame.     

Book reviews

SYSTEM 37 VIGGEN: ARMS, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE DOMESTICATION OF GLORY. Ingemar Dörfer. Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1973. 258 pp. N.Kr.90 ($US18.00).

SIR JOHN MONASH. A. J. Smithers. Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1973. 0–207–12587–2. 303 pp. $7.95.

RADICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY: COLLECTED ESSAYS. E. L. Wheelwright. ANZ Books, Sydney, 1974. 0–85552–018–3. 414 pp. $5.95 paper.

JAPAN'S FOREIGN POLICY. F. C. Langdon, University of British Columbia Press, Vancouver, 1973. 321 pp. $US9.00 hardcover.

THE PATHET LAO: LEADERSHIP AND ORGANISATION. Joseph J. Zasloff. Lexington Books, Lexington, Massachusetts, 1973. 174 pp. $US10.00.

PERVASIVE POLITICS: A STUDY OF THE INDIAN DISTRICT. Donald F. Miller Melbourne Politics Monographs, Department of Political Science, University of Melbourne, 1972. 226 pp. $2.80, $1.80 (students), paper (postage: local 85c, overseas $1.05).

CHINA IN BURMA'S FOREIGN POLICY. Ralph Pettman. Australian National University Press, Contemporary China Papers No. 7, Canberra, 1973. 56 pp. $2.50 paper.

ZAMBIA. SECURITY AND CONFLICT. Jan Pettman. Julian Friedmann Publishers Ltd., Lewes, Sussex, 1974. 284 pp. £4.25.

THE DIPLOMACY OF CONSTRAINT: CANADA, THE KOREAN WAR AND THE UNITED STATES. Denis Stairs. University of Toronto Press, Toronto, 1974. 371 pp. $C15.00 hard cover.

ALL TOGETHER NOW: THE ORGANIZATION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF NATIONAL DEFENCE IN CANADA, 1964–1972. Vernon J. Kronenberg. Canadian Institute of International Affairs, Toronto, 1973. 124 pp. $C2.50 paper.

WAR MACHINERY AND HIGH POLICY: DEFENCE ADMINISTRATION IN PEACETIME BRITAIN 1902–1914. Nicholas d'Ombrain. Oxford Historical Monographs, Oxford University Press, London, 1973. 302 pp. $13.15.

BRITAIN'S LEGACY OVERSEAS. Geoffrey Bolton. Oxford University Press, 1973. 168 pp. $2.10, paper.

GREAT POWER POLITICS AND NORWEGIAN FOREIGN POLICY: A STUDY OF NORWAY'S FOREIGN RELATIONS NOVEMBER 1940‐FEBRUARY 1948. Nils Morten Udgaard. Universitetsforlaget, Oslo, 1973.

EUROPE 1945 TO 1970. Charlotte Waterlow and Archibald Evans. Methuen, London, 1973. 423–87840–9. 316 pp. $11.60.