ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 focuses on the present – more precisely, on the UNDP’s conceptualization of the individual and its role in activating what it calls ‘the virtuous circle’ of human development. The analysis shows that the HDRs recount, year after year, that inequality is growing both within and between countries. However, the UNDP continues to insist that increasing productivity – rather than promoting fairer distribution – should solve the problem. The chapter shows that the UNDP’s discourse is exhausted and cannot properly apprehend actual global problems.
