Opportunity could be defined in so many ways. There's one way of defining it, equality of opportunity, which is in fact the equality of capability, but the libertarians got there first and they have - like the Americans getting onto the moon, naming every crater after something like an astronaut - they have got there and named "opportunity" in a way that we cannot get ownership of now.
Amartya SenThe success of a society is to be evaluated primarily by the freedoms that members of the society enjoy.
Amartya SenAcross the world, in Africa, Asia, Latin America, everywhere, there is a widespread recognition on the part of the parents, too, that the children's life will go much better by being educated. And that applies to girls as well as boys.
Amartya SenThe increasing tendency towards seeing people in terms of one dominant โidentityโ (โthis is your duty as an Americanโ, โyou must commit these acts as a Muslimโ, or โas a Chinese you should give priority to this national engagementโ) is not only an imposition of an external and arbitrary priority, but also the denial of an important liberty of a person who can decide on their respective loyalties to different groups (to all of which he or she belongs).
Amartya SenIf the government is vulnerable to public opinion, then famines are a dreadfully bad thing to have. You canยt win many elections after a famine, and you donยt like being criticized by newspapers, opposition parties in parliament, and so on. Democracy gives the government an immediate political incentive to act.
Amartya Sen