Amartya Sen

Politics

Finding our common ground

• 31 July 2006

The Nobel Prize-winning economist Amartya Sen was once famously described as the "conscience of his profession". In a career spanning four decades, he has consistently addressed issues such as inequality, poverty and the human costs of economic development. In his new book, Identity and Violence, Sen questions the concept of human identity, showing how a person's sense of belonging to a particular ethnic, religious or social group can, in certain circumstances, lead them to behave with otherwise unthinkable murderous venom.