Sowing the Seeds: Development and the Politics of Human Rights [Hardcover]

About this book Promoting freedom and development and strengthening human rights around the world are central to many national foreign policies. However, fifty years after the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights was signed, many of the social and political evils that arrested societies and served the self-interests of a select few still exist, blanketing much of the globe and contradicting the principles captured in the Declaration. Sowing the Seeds presents an important blueprint for constructing and implementing new and holistic means of tackling issues related to development and the strengthening of human rights on a number of societal levels. The eleven chapters that comprise this volume serve to address issues that can be seen as microcosms to egregious issues plaguing societies in South East Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and further afield. Authoritative and highly accessible, this volume is essential reading for scholars and general readers alike who seek to gain a deeper understanding of the state of play in these select regions and their linkages to peoples experiencing similar issues in other global corridors. The wide range of issues shows the relationship of development to both 'positive' and 'negative' human rights. This is an important distinction given that while development can be more readily associated with 'positive' human rights such as the right to food, water, and shelter, so too is the correlation between development and 'negative' human rights (such as the right to be free from oppression, persecution and abuse) a substantial one. That development has a role to play in this range of contexts is a central tenant of the book, as it underscores the utility of an approach to upholding human rights that does not solely consist of a legal focus. The contributions present the realities of where these regions and communities stand today and what they could conceivably do to survive the precarious nature of their geopolitical environments. They enrich the growing body of research, literature, and policy bibliography of regions whose importance to the rest of the world continues to grow.