A Decade of Human Development

Public acclaim is not always a sound way of judging the success of an intellectual enterprise. John Stuart Mill’s book Subjection of Women was his only work on which his publisher lost money; Bertrand Russell’s book on mathematical logic initially had very few readers; Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations achieved its prominence only very slowly; Mozart’s appreciation in the world of music came much more hesitantly than he had hoped. Speedy applause does not always greet creative contributions. In contrast, Mahbub ul Haq could not really have had any complaint that the world took a long time to appreciate the remarkable merits of his brainchild, the Human Development Report, as a vehicle of communication, nor to accept the pre-eminence of the idea of ‘human development’ as an illuminating concept that serves to integrate a variety of concerns about the lives of people and their well-being and freedom. Mahbub’s creation has received remarkable notice and acclaim in less than a decade. The United Nations Development Programme has had better luck, in this respect, than did John Stuart Mill’s publisher. Indeed, when I recollect the phone calls that came repeatedly from Mahbub in summer 1989, with his explaining to me what is going to happen (and also why I should join in this “vitally important” crusade), I have a sense of proximity in time that is in some tension with the way the idea of human development and the commanding presence of the Human Development Reports have become solid parts of the contemporary landscape of social thinking in the international community. What was, barely 10 years ago, some untried thoughts in Mahbub’s mind, with nothing much on paper, have become a central part of the manifest reality of the global thinking on evaluation and action. What must have appeared to many in the United Nations system as a rather eccentric plan of an independent-minded Pakistani economist has become a central component of critical attention in the world of communication and public discourse.