Development as a Human Right

Description

The relationship between the processes of economic development and international human rights standards has been one of parallel and rarely intersecting tracks of international action. In the last decade of the 20th century, development thinking shifted from a growth-oriented model to the concept of human development as a process of enhancing human capabilities, and the intrinsic links between development and human rights began to be more readily acknowledged. Specifically, it has been proposed that if strategies of development and policies to implement human rights are united, they reinforce one another in processes of synergy and improvement of the human condition. Such is the premise of the Declaration on the Right to Development, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1986.brbrThis book explores the meaning and practical implications of the right to development and the related term of human rights-based approaches to development and questions what these conceptions may add to our understanding and thinking about human and global development. Opening with an essay by Nobel Laureate in Economic Science Amartya Sen on human rights and development, the book contains a score of chapters on the conceptual underpinnings of development as a human right, the national dimensions of this right, and the role of international institutions. The authors reflect the disciplines of philosophy, economics, international law, and international relations. brbrThis 2nd edition of the book, originally published in 2006, has a new Foreword by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navanethem Pillay.brbrAbout the editorsbrbrBrd A. Andreassen is Professor at the Norwegian Center for Human Rights and Director of Research human rights and development at the Law Faculty, University of Oslo.brbrStephen P. Marks is Franois-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights in the Department of Global Health and Population at the Harvard School of Public Health and a Senior Fellow at the University Committee on Human Rights Studies at Harvard.br