Dignity, Inequality, and Political Regimes: New Approaches

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel addresses central concerns about the relationship between politics and socio-economic hierarchies, within and across countries. Whereas the field of “development,” has largely focused on outcomes such as economic growth and average levels of income, the papers in this panel look more squarely at the political causes and consequences of unequal distributions of resources and treatment of those at the bottom. Two of the papers are particularly concerned with the concept of “dignity,” and how that relates to other understandings of power and distribution. All of the papers highlight questions about democracy and distribution, identifying the contradictions between democratic freedoms for all and unequal allocations of resources and/or social opportunities within society.

Sub Unit

• DIVISION 12: Comparative Politics in Developing Countries

Individual Presentations

• Conceptualizing Dignity Regimes - Poulomi Chakrabarti, Queen's University

• Dignified Development: The Concept and a Strategy for Measurement - Evan S. Lieberman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Blair Read; Paige Bollen, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Distributional Inequality and Autocratization: The Importance of Social Services - Rachel Sigman, Naval Postgraduate School; Anna Luehrmann, University of Gothenburg; Julia Leininger, German Development Institute

Chair

• Evan S. Lieberman Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Discussant

• Varun Gauri The World Bank Group