Human Rights and Development

This collection of papers from a 1987 international conference was sponsored by the Human Rights Committee of the International Political Science Association. The volume presents an argument in support of action for human rights in the Third World, emphasizing not economic or historical determinism but rather the importance of political choice by elites in deciding which rights to violate or respect. It therefore challenges more pessimistic arguments based on history, economics or culture. The first section of the book details work in the private sector in support of human rights, with contributors from Mexico, Nigeria, India, Norway and the US. A second section analyzes the role and impact of the foreign policies of developed states, on the basis of chapters by authors from the Netherlands, West Germany, Canada and the US. A third section looks at private and public action in Turkey, the Sudan, India and Bangladesh. The fourth section contains two overviews of the process of development and human rights. David Forsythe's books include "Human Rights and US Foreign Policy - Congress Reconsidered" (winner of the Dauer Prize) and "Human Rights and World Politics".