Development, Growth and Human Rights: the Case of Turkey

Abstract

The relationship between economic development and human rights is complex and multifaceted. It has been viewed from different perspectives which are contingent not only on empirical evidence, but on the meaning attributed both to the concept of economic development and to that of human rights. In a proclamation adopted by a United Nations international conference held in Teheran in April 1968 it was stipulated, ‘The achievement of lasting progress in the implementation of human rights is dependent upon sound and effective national and international policies of economic and social development’.1 Unfortunately this statement, and many other resolutions adopted by the United Nations and various other international bodies, obfuscate the substantive meaning of human rights and the nature of economic and social development.2 Failure to define human rights and economic development inevitably clouds the issue of their relationship since the subject matter that is being investigated lacks specificity. Even if the meaning of human rights and economic development is not explicitly set forth, however, their use by analysts incorporates implicit assumptions as to their content, which in turn determines the selection of data. And it is the particular data used which frequently confirm or deny hypotheses on the relationship between economic development and human rights.KeywordsReal WageCountry StudyForeign DebtMilitary InterventionMilitary CoupThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.