The Capabilities Approach suggests distinctive methods for dealing with a number of prob lems currently being faced by social and po lit i cal theory. Cutting-edge work is being done by capabilities theory in a va ri ety of areas. Descriptions must remain superficial, but they show that the approach promises a new, and relatively uni fied, perspective on prob lems that are often treated in isolation from one another. The list is to some extent arbitrary: other issues could easily be added.(Three that come immediately to mind are migration, the Inter net, and global warming.)