NEW WINE IN OLD WINE-SKIN? THE RIGHTS-BASED APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT
3.2 The Rights-Based Approach To Development
3.2.7 Repackaging Old Wine in New Wine Skins? Critique of RBA
Like the basic needs approach and indeed any development strategy, RBA has been criticized on many grounds including the fact that international law upon which the human rights instruments and treaties are based is a toothless dog. Rieff, particularly, argues that the human rights approaches championed by NGOs lack focus. The multi-faceted work of human rights approaches has a feature of over-reach which in the end amounts to everything, yet nothing in particular (in Gready & Ensor, 2005:29). Chandler also makes a similar point arguing that the all-encompassing approach associated
Paul Streeten mentions eight criticisms against the basic needs approach which include that the approach tempers with market fundamental, that it is a communist Trojan horse, that it leads to welfarism and state intervention, that there was nothing new about but the same old development wine (1978:180).
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with humanitarianism shoots in all directions from relief, to advocacy, to long-term development issues, and in the process fails to address one particular target (ibid).
More radical critiques of RBA include the argument that this approach gives a false hope in a world where legal enforcement of human rights have produced very disappointing results especially at the international level. Reiff, again argues that realization of human rights requires the existence of an
"international community" which according to him does not exist at present (ibid). Chandler echoes similar concerns arguing that RBA is "rhetoric without responsibility," that the nice pronouncements made on paper are rarely applied in the real world (ibid).
Admittedly, RBA has an inherent weakness stemming from the fact that international human rights norms on which RBA is based, are often given a rhetorical commitment at the domestic level80. However, it must be noted that most of these critiques are directed at the way of implementing RBA and not at the substance of the approach.
3.2.7.1 Competing Interest Among Rights
A more substantive critique that Reiff raises is that rights often conflict and compete with each other (ibid). This is particularly relevant to socioeconomic rights which often require the state to allocate resources to different welfare demands. For instance, realizing the right to water may be competing with the need to realise other rights such as the right to food, education, health care, freedom of speech, a right to a fair trial and so on. However, not all the rights require the same attention and resources at the same time—prioritisation can help balance the conflicting interest (Sengupta, 2000).
RBA has also been criticized for making superficial political engagement, with the result that it often fails to make radical political claims. Duffield (2001) for instance points out that RBA approach often
adopts an apolitical discourse in development (inGready & Ensor, 2005:33).
3.2.7.2 Reparckaging of Old Wine
Other critics of this approach have noted that RBA is not different from other earlier strategies arguing that it is just the change of names and inventions of acronyms but the same old wine (in Nyamu- Musembi & Cornwall, 2004). Univ(2002) in particular persuasively argues that the incorporation of human rights norms in development is "little more than thinly disguised repackaging of old wine in
This point is discussed in detail in chapter 4.
new bottles" (in Gready & Ensor, 2005:39). With particular reference to the right to water, Bakker argues that deployment of rights is not effective when it comes to access to water because such a strategy fails to separate human rights from property rights; fails to distinguish the difference between property rights and service provision; and as a consequence of these two failures, the right to water campaign fails to "foreclose the possibility of increasing private sector involvement in water supply"
(2007: 439).
While most of the criticisms are valid and should be taken into account, it is important to note that an approach only presents a framework of doing something. Therefore, the outcome of implementing an approach is not entirely dependent on the soundness of its precepts but also the manner in which it is implemented. If little or no commitment is given to RBA norms, no matter how perfect or strong its appeal, it is not likely that any desired results will be obtained. For example, the right to water should not be expected to prevent privatization of water services by mere declaration of the right. How effective the use of the right is in achieving this objective depends on how it is utilized. It is in this sense that the role of adequate and responsive institutions becomes indispensable to the success of RBA.
3.2.7.3 Challenges of Implementing RBA
Certainly, most of the critiques against RBA can be attributed to implementational challenges which include commitment. And it is here that one has to ask, what are the challenges that arise from implementing RBA? And a possible response to this is that we face the dilemma of the Allegory of the Braai party explained below (see next Section)
To a large extent, implementing RBA is haunted by the Cranstonian paradigm of rights. This is mainly because RBA is largely seen to be advocating socioeconomic rights (Offenheiser & Holcombe, 2003), which are often seen to be rights only when there are 'enough' resources. Like Maurice Cranston, many policymakers believe that these are actually not rights, but moral aspiration which only rich nations have the luxury to fulfil.
Unfortunately, governments of the developing world also tend to fall prey to this thinking. For instance, when one of the government officials was asked about whether access to water is a human right in Zambia, his response was immediately directed to the issue of resource scarcity.
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.... I think government seems to be reluctant to pronounce that ....again it all comes to the limited resources. I think the bottom line is that the cake is small. I think that is basically the economic situation of our country {Policy Maker Interviews, 2006).
3.2.7.4 The Braai Analogy
As noted earlier, while RBA has been adopted widely by some NGOs and UN development agencies, very few governments have adopted this approach. The biggest challenge is to get states to move from the manifesto level commitment to concrete implementation of the principles to which they have so enthusiastically subscribe. Effective implementation of RBA, especially in developing countries where investment in key areas that benefit the poor will have to come from public resources, requires serious commitment from the state. Although most states affirm the importance of these principles, the commitment to these principles is highly questionable in many countries including Zambia. The actual scenario can be compared to a situation where different parties agree to have a braai party and assign themselves different duties. At the time of making the decision to have a braai, the parties are so enthusiastic and promise to perform their assigned duties expeditiously. But when it comes to the actual performance of the assigned duties, some of the parties fail not only to perform their duties, they do not even show up for the braai.