Rights-based Approaches and Bilateral Aid Agencies: More Than a Metaphor?

It could be argued that the rights based approach … is no more than ametaphor; a concept that catalyses a set of values into a phrase that many people can adopt and adapt. It is a general statement in favour of equitable development, involving widespread participation of those with no direct control of, or access to, the power of the state … If we still take rights as a legal concept then much of what passes as rights based is unlikely to be successful because there are often no state bodies committed to meeting the obligations implied. There is also a sense in that the “emperor has no clothes ” as there are too many people arguing about the details of what a rights approach should be and how it should be operationalised.Meanwhile, this is happening in the absence of any clear idea of what it is they are engaging with. (Pratt 2003: 2)

Krievijas arpolitika un iekspolitika: saskana vai pretruna? Konferences materiali

Available from Latvian Academic Library / LAL - Latvian Academic LibrarySIGLELVLatvi

Introductory article: on the discourse of terrorism, security and development

This paper introduces the policy arena by examining the increasing interlinking of international development policy with security concerns, particularly at a discursive level in the global North and especially since the declaration of the United States led ‘War on Terror’. The authors propose that it is not only the US that has altered its approach to development in light of the new security agenda, but so too have some multilateral development organisations, along with bilateral donors that in the past have been associated with a less politically-determined programme of development cooperation. The incorporation of security concerns in development thinking is not new and dates back at least to the Cold War era. Although the security-development nexus can be construed positively, the linkage has taken on new forms and dynamics in the contemporary context. Increasingly, development is viewed by some actors as a means of addressing ‘looming threats’ emanating from the global South towards the North. The authors suggest that if security for the North becomes a central guiding principle for development in the South, this will be damaging for both the project of global poverty reduction and global security