Özet:

Problem Statement: In the development economics literature, ‘economic growth’ school focuses on the expansion of income and expenditure, whereas ‘human development’ approach defines development as an enhancement of human capabilities and widening of choices. Purpose of the study: The intellectual and the philosophical contributions that have shaped and enriched the concept of human development will be analysed in the first part of the paper. The second objective of the paper is to examine Turkey’s position in human development continuum. Methodology: The concepts and the additional categories of Amartya Sen’s ‘capability approach’ that form the theoretical framework of the human development paradigm, are examined. The Human Development Reports are studied to provide an examination of Turkey’s performance on the human development continuum through the years. Discussion and Results: Although Turkey has been among the fastest progressing countries, international comparison shows that countries with less income levels have managed to achieve higher levels of human development. The analysis of Turkey’s development performance points at a trend of constant yet unbalanced development. The second point is that knowledge persists as Turkey’s major weakness in the human development process. Turkey has to define her goal as to be among the high human development countries category in the nearest future. Moreover, the development policies should adopt a human development centred economic, social and cultural policy path, investing in education aiming to increase literacy rates and enrolment ratios

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