What is 'rights-based development'? How is it being put into practice in different contexts? What is its potential to achieve more equitable and effective development outcomes? Governments, development agencies and NGOs concerned with poverty alleviation have increasingly sought to integrate rights into their work. The term 'rights-based development' has been coined to describe these efforts but there is limited understanding of how such approaches are being worked out in practice. The authors examine the ways in which rights-based strategies have been understood in development practice in Latin America. They stress the political and personal nature of development especially the importance of enabling people to make their own demands of the state and other institutions. Rights-based development work has involved combining ideas of citizenship, democracy, participation and empowerment in novel ways. This book contributes to the creation of a fuller understanding of this approach to development and reveals the potential that it offers in ongoing efforts to secure more equitable as well as more effective and inclusive development outcomes.

Maxine Molyneux
Molyneux is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Institute for the Study of the Americas, School of Advanced Study, University of London.

Beyond Carceral Expansion: Survivors’ Experiences of Using Specialised Courts for Violence Against Women in Ecuador

Tapia, Silvana Tapia

Social & Legal Studies, Vol. 30 (2021), Iss. 6 P.848

https://doi.org/10.1177/0964663920973747 [Citations: 1]

Schooling and Critical Citizenship: Pedagogies of Political Agency in El Alto, Bolivia

Lazar, Sian

Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Vol. 41 (2010), Iss. 2 P.181

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1548-1492.2010.01077.x [Citations: 23]

Free Trade, Alternative Trade and Women in Peru

Henrici, Jane

Journal of Developing Societies, Vol. 23 (2007), Iss. 1-2 P.145

https://doi.org/10.1177/0169796X0602300209 [Citations: 1]

Entitled to Health? Social Protection in Chile's Plan AUGE

Dannreuther, Charles

Gideon, Jasmine

Development and Change, Vol. 39 (2008), Iss. 5 P.845

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2008.00508.x [Citations: 18]

Intimate Activism

Introduction

2013

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822378969-001 [Citations: 0]

The Changing Spaces of Local Governance in Nicaragua

HOWARD, JOANNA

VASQUEZ, LUIS SERRA

Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 30 (2011), Iss. 1 P.64

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-9856.2010.00446.x [Citations: 4]

Intimate Activism

Pride and Prejudice

2013

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822378969-004 [Citations: 0]

Sustainability and Law

Municipalities, Social Innovations, and the Co-development of Localized Food Rights

Fernandez-Wulff, Paula

2020

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42630-9_33 [Citations: 0]

Education for Credit

Lazar, Sian

Critique of Anthropology, Vol. 24 (2004), Iss. 3 P.301

https://doi.org/10.1177/0308275X04045423 [Citations: 63]

Engendering development and disasters

Bradshaw, Sarah

Disasters, Vol. 39 (2015), Iss. s1 P.s54

https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12111 [Citations: 49]

El Alto, Rebel City

Citizens Despite the State

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-005 [Citations: 0]

Indigenous peoples, the city and inclusive urban development policies in Latin America: Lessons from Bolivia and Ecuador

Horn, Philipp

Development Policy Review, Vol. 36 (2018), Iss. 4 P.483

https://doi.org/10.1111/dpr.12234 [Citations: 7]

El Alto, Rebel City

Introduction

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-001 [Citations: 0]

Defining Rights from the Roots: Insights from Council Tenants' Struggles in Mombasa, Kenya

Musyoki, Samuel

Nyamu-Musembi, Celestine

IDS Bulletin, Vol. 36 (2005), Iss. 1 P.100

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2005.tb00184.x [Citations: 3]

Do Rights Promote Development?

Grugel, Jean

Piper, Nicola

Global Social Policy, Vol. 9 (2009), Iss. 1 P.79

https://doi.org/10.1177/1468018108100399 [Citations: 30]

Citizenship Quality: A New Agenda for Development?

Lazar, Sian

Journal of Civil Society, Vol. 8 (2012), Iss. 4 P.333

https://doi.org/10.1080/17448689.2012.738898 [Citations: 29]

Women’s Voices on the Executive Council

Dosh, Paul

Kligerman, Nicole

Lerager, James

Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 37 (2010), Iss. 4 P.214

https://doi.org/10.1177/0094582X10372514 [Citations: 2]

Indigenous, Mestizo and Afro-Descendent Women against Violence: Building Interethnic Alliances in the Context of Regional Autonomy

FIGUEROA ROMERO, DOLORES

BARBEYTO, ARELLY

Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 33 (2014), Iss. 3 P.305

https://doi.org/10.1111/blar.12203 [Citations: 2]

Research, Action and Policy: Addressing the Gendered Impacts of Climate Change

Gender, Development, and Rights-Based Approaches: Lessons for Climate Change Adaptation and Adaptive Social Protection

Bee, Beth

Biermann, Maureen

Tschakert, Petra

2013

https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5518-5_7 [Citations: 12]

Moving forward research agendas on international NGOs: theory, agency and context

Lewis, David

Opoku-Mensah, Paul

Journal of International Development, Vol. 18 (2006), Iss. 5 P.665

https://doi.org/10.1002/jid.1306 [Citations: 70]

El Alto, Ciudad Rebelde: Organisational Bases for Revolt

Lazar, Sian

Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 25 (2006), Iss. 2 P.183

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0261-3050.2006.00159.x [Citations: 24]

Doris Tijerino: Revolution, Writing, and Resistance in Nicaragua

Byron, Kristine

NWSA Journal, Vol. 18 (2006), Iss. 3 P.104

https://doi.org/10.2979/NWS.2006.18.3.104 [Citations: 3]

Beyond Civil Society

References

2017

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822373353-019 [Citations: 0]

Intimate Activism

A History of Sexuality

2013

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822378969-002 [Citations: 0]

Mothers at the Service of the New Poverty Agenda: Progresa/Oportunidades, Mexico's Conditional Transfer Programme

Molyneux, Maxine

Social Policy and Administration, Vol. 40 (2006), Iss. 4 P.425

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9515.2006.00497.x [Citations: 257]

El Alto, Rebel City

Constructing the Zone

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-004 [Citations: 0]

Intimate Activism

Conclusion

2013

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822378969-006 [Citations: 0]

Livelihood resilience in the face of climate change

Tanner, Thomas

Lewis, David

Wrathall, David

Bronen, Robin

Cradock-Henry, Nick

Huq, Saleemul

Lawless, Chris

Nawrotzki, Raphael

Prasad, Vivek

Rahman, Md. Ashiqur

Alaniz, Ryan

King, Katherine

McNamara, Karen

Nadiruzzaman, Md.

Henly-Shepard, Sarah

Thomalla, Frank

Nature Climate Change, Vol. 5 (2015), Iss. 1 P.23

https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate2431 [Citations: 196]

Children’s rights and children’s welfare after the Convention on the Rights of the Child

Grugel, Jean

Progress in Development Studies, Vol. 13 (2013), Iss. 1 P.19

https://doi.org/10.1177/146499341201300102 [Citations: 16]

Intimate Activism

Mediating Sexual Subjectivities

2013

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822378969-005 [Citations: 0]

El Alto, Rebel City

The State and The Unions

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-011 [Citations: 0]

From the Groundwater Up: Asserting water rights in India

Drew, Georgina

Development, Vol. 51 (2008), Iss. 1 P.37

https://doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.development.1100443 [Citations: 2]

Resisting the Global Slum: Politics, Religion and Consumption in the Remaking of Life Worlds in the Twenty-First Century

Gledhill, John

Bulletin of Latin American Research, Vol. 25 (2006), Iss. 3 P.322

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0261-3050.2006.00201.x [Citations: 5]

Exploring a Political Approach to Rights-Based Development in North West Cameroon: From Rights and Marginality to Citizenship and Justice

Hickey, Sam

Duni, Jeidoh

Fon, Robert

Salihu, Nuhu

(2010)

https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1545892 [Citations: 0]

El Alto, Rebel City

Bibliography

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-014 [Citations: 0]

Competing Visions of Democracy and Development in the Era of Neoliberalism in Mexico and Chile

Teichman, Judith A.

International Political Science Review, Vol. 30 (2009), Iss. 1 P.67

https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512108097057 [Citations: 9]

Ethnicity, Development and Gender: Tsáchila Indigenous Women in Ecuador

Radcliffe, Sarah

Pequeño, Andrea

Development and Change, Vol. 41 (2010), Iss. 6 P.983

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2010.01671.x [Citations: 17]

Sous le développement, le genre

Des engagements ambivalents et des résultats paradoxaux. Les mouvements féministes et le développement

Alvarez, Sonia E.

2015

https://doi.org/10.4000/books.irdeditions.8796 [Citations: 0]

El Alto, Rebel City

“In-Betweenness” and Political Agency

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-010 [Citations: 0]

Bringing rights into resilience: revealing complexities of climate risks and social conflict

Ensor, Jonathan

Forrester, John

Matin, Nilufar

Disasters, Vol. 42 (2018), Iss. P.S287

https://doi.org/10.1111/disa.12304 [Citations: 20]

El Alto, Rebel City

How the Gods Touch Humans (and Vice Versa)

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-007 [Citations: 0]

Intimate Activism

Intimate Pedagogies

2013

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822378969-003 [Citations: 0]

Transforming Rights into Social Practices? The Landless Movement and Land Reform in Brazil

Navarro, Zander

IDS Bulletin, Vol. 36 (2005), Iss. 1 P.129

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2005.tb00187.x [Citations: 3]

In the Name of Human Rights: Global Organizations and Participating Citizens

Basok, Tanya

Ilcan, Suzan

Citizenship Studies, Vol. 10 (2006), Iss. 3 P.309

https://doi.org/10.1080/13621020600772099 [Citations: 23]

The Chimera of Success

Molyneux, Maxine

IDS Bulletin, Vol. 35 (2004), Iss. 4 P.112

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1759-5436.2004.tb00163.x [Citations: 12]

Uprooting the curious grapevine? The transformative potential of reverse standard-setting in the field of human rights

Destrooper, Tine

Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 16 (2017), Iss. 4 P.516

https://doi.org/10.1080/14754835.2016.1225193 [Citations: 1]

New Developments in Latin America's Social Policy

Barrientos, Armando

Gideon, Jasmine

Molyneux, Maxine

Development and Change, Vol. 39 (2008), Iss. 5 P.759

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2008.00504.x [Citations: 26]

El Alto, Rebel City

Notes

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-013 [Citations: 0]

Dilemmas of Difference

Bibliography

2015

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822375029-010 [Citations: 0]

Under Development: Gender

Ambivalent Engagements, Paradoxical Effects: Latin American Feminist and Women’s Movements and/in/against Development

Alvarez, Sonia E.

2014

https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137356826_11 [Citations: 4]

Intimate Activism

Notes

2013

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822378969-007 [Citations: 0]

El Alto, Rebel City

Competition, Individualism, and Collective Organization

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-009 [Citations: 0]

El Alto, Rebel City

El Alto the City

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-002 [Citations: 0]

El Alto, Rebel City

Conclusion

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-012 [Citations: 0]

‘A world which is not yet’: Peasants, civil society and the state

Brass, Tom

The Journal of Peasant Studies, Vol. 34 (2007), Iss. 3-4 P.582

https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150701802918 [Citations: 7]

Intimate Activism

References

2013

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822378969-008 [Citations: 0]

Appreciating the Movement of the Movements

Hintjens, Helen

Development in Practice, Vol. 16 (2006), Iss. 6 P.628

https://doi.org/10.1080/09614520600958355 [Citations: 4]

The ‘Neoliberal Turn’ and the New Social Policy in Latin America: How Neoliberal, How New?

Molyneux, Maxine

Development and Change, Vol. 39 (2008), Iss. 5 P.775

https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7660.2008.00505.x [Citations: 65]

El Alto, Rebel City

Place, Movement, and Ritual

2007

https://doi.org/10.1215/9780822388760-006 [Citations: 0]

Gender and Social Policy in a Global Context

Mothers at the Service of the New Poverty Agenda: The PROGRESA/Oportunidades Programme in Mexico

Molyneux, Maxine

2006

https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230625280_2 [Citations: 3]