Short Abstract:

In this panel we want to explore the emerging social justice concerns and critically examine dimensions of ethical and practical considerations and how emerging economies such as India, Brazil, Indonesia, Republic of Korea and Turkey are navigating these new spaces in international development.

Long Abstract:

This Panel looks at de-centring development theory by focussing on emerging economies in the global order. It challenges existing ideas on global development and demands new ways of thinking about social justice. In this sense it seeks to answer the key Q: “What are the sites of alternative understandings of social justice, and do they challenge ideas around what it means to ‘be developed’?”

One such understanding is through strengthening the idea of ‘humane governance’ rooted in social justice. Sen’s (1999) vision of development being ultimately about enhancing capabilities in the form of substantive freedoms. The importance of ‘agency’ is central to this. Another alternative lens is to look at institutions- formal and informal (North 1990, 2003) to see whether they are emerging to provide stable equilibriums for policies of growth and policies of redistribution to promote equity and social justice.We would argue that this is both necessary and possible. BRICS countries have shown their ability to create some of these necessary institutions and environments to favour inclusive growth.

This panel highlights the conference’s strand on ‘Rights and Representation’ and flows into sub-questions around how rights are claimed at local and regional levels, further, how responsive are gatekeepers to such challenges. Including evidence and data from BRICS, allows space to examine south-south cooperations and also explore questions like “Do international agendas such as localisation represent genuine attempts to address imbalances in representation in global development, or are they perpetuating power imbalances and reproducing unequal power dynamics in new ways and in new locations?”.