Occasional Papers

Trans-border Vulnerabilities

By: Khalil Hamdani
2014
Global connectivity is a powerful dynamic for human development. It is also a source of vulnerability. As people become more mobile and countries more interdependent, their interactions give rise to vulnerabilities that transcend borders. This is an...Read more

Reducing Vulnerability in Critical Life Course Phases by Enhancing Human Capital

By: Samir KC, Wolfgang Lutz, Elke Loichinger, Raya Muttarak and Erich Strießnig
2014
This paper takes a demographic perspective and addresses differential vulnerability for men and women as they pass through their life cycles. A particular focus lies on differential vulnerability by level of education. The analysis starts with a global...Read more
Gomez 2014

Evolution of Thinking and Research on Human and Personal Security 1994-2013

By: Gasper, Des and Gómez, Oscar A.
2014
Human security analysis considers the intersection of deprivation and vulnerability, and is an essential part, or partner, of human development thinking, giving special attention to risks and forces of disruption and destruction. This paper highlights...Read more
Hale 2014

Improving Global Collective Action in a Connected World

By: Hale, Thomas
2014
Rising interdependence creates a need for greater global cooperation to manage basic policy problems, like providing economic stability and development, maintaining security and ensuring environmental sustainability. But the intergovernmental...Read more
Kabeer 2014

Violence against Women as ‘Relational’ Vulnerability: Engendering the Sustainable Human Development Agenda

By: Kabeer, Naila
2014
Violence against women can be conceptualized as a ‘relational vulnerability’, reflecting women’s subordinate status within hierarchical gender relations and the dependencies associated with it. While such violence can take many different forms, this...Read more
Mahbub-ul-Haq-Lecture

Inaugural Mahbub ul Haq-Amartya Sen Lecture, UNIGE

Advancing, Sustaining Human Progress: From Concepts to Policies
By: Malik, Khalid
2014
Mahbub was that rare combination of thinker-doer. A former Minister of Finance in his home country Pakistan, he was acutely aware that theoretical debates were not enough, and that we have to think about policies that make a difference in the lives of...Read more
Zaidi Paper

Life Cycle Transitions and Vulnerabilities in Old Age: A Review

By: Zaidi, Asghar
2014
This paper reviews the concepts of vulnerability and resilience, and their applications for ageing and older people through literature in this area. Concurrently, it reviews the life course framework and the capability approach, and their relevance to...Read more
Kaul 2014

Fostering Sustainable Human Development

Managing the Macro-risks of Vulnerability
By: Kaul, Inge
2014
The purpose of this paper is to trace and characterize the factors that contribute to today’s multiplying signs and incidences of vulnerability, and, based on this analysis, to suggest possible corrective policy steps. The findings show that the risks of...Read more
Mary Young Paper

Addressing and Mitigating Vulnerability Across the Life Cycle

The Case for Investing in Early Childhood
By: Young, Mary
2014
Our current understanding of the neurobiology of early childhood is that the development of the brain’s architecture and function in early life affects health, learning and behaviour until we die. This means that what is done or not done in early...Read more
Fischer-Cover

The Social Value of Employment and the Redistributive Imperative for Development

By: Fischer, Andrew M.
2014
Evaluating the inherently relative and subjective social value of employment needs to be placed within a broader inquiry about the conditions under which a sufficient and sustained perception of social value might be cultivated within particular...Read more