Development, Human Rights and the Search for Justice

Research on the contentious relationship between development and human rights. As social problems such as poverty, inequality, violence and impunity mount in developing countries, the development profession is looking to human rights discourse for planning, programming and policy, and for a reconceptualization the very notion of development. This has significant implications for how states are governed, how they conduct relations with NGOs and international institutions, and what kind of economic transformations are possible.

This project evaluates the actual practices of states, international institutions such as WTO, NGOs and other actors in this attempted transition and formulates a theoretical model reconceptualizing development as justice.