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.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
Cited in Stephen P. Marks, ‘Principles and Norms of Human Rights Applicable in Emergency Situations: Underdevelopment, Catastrophe and Armed Conflict’ in Karel Vasek and Philip Alston (eds), The International Dimensions of Human Rights (Paris and Westport, Conn.: UNESCO and Greenwood Press, 1982), vol. I, pp. 179–80.
Jack Donnelly, ‘Human Rights and Development: Complementary or Competing Concerns’, World Politics XXXVI, 2 (January 1984) pp. 255–83. In reviewing several publications the author criticises the trade-off theory.
Paul Streeten, ‘Basic Needs and Human Rights,’ World Development, 8 (1980) pp. 107–11. While the author recognises the importance of basic needs he limits the notion of rights to civil and political rights and cites cases in which rights exist without needs and vice versa. Although it is true that the specificity of their articulation may differ, he ignores their inherent interconnection.
For a classic study of Ataturk’s policies and the origins of etatism see Bernard Lewis, The Emergence of Modern Turkey, 2nd edn (London: Oxford University Press, 1968) pp. 286–8;
see also A. Ender, ‘The Origins and Legacy of Kemalism’, in Khamsin , Modern Turkey: Development and Crisis (London: 1984) p. 58.
George S. Harris, Troubled Alliance: Turkish-American Problems in Historical Perspective, 1945–1971 (Washington DC: American Enterprise Institute for Policy Research, paperback, 1972) pp. 32–3, in which the author cites the opposition of some Turks to US pressures to adopt an open economy policy.
For a discussion of the changing composition of the Grand National Assembly by occupation see Frederick W. Frey, The Turkish Political Elites (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1965) pp. 180–92.
For a discussion of the Turkish military see Semih Vaner, ‘The Army’, in Irvin Cemil Schick and Ertugrul Ahmet Tonak (eds), Turkey in Transition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987) pp. 236–65.
For a detailed elaboration of Turkey’s position in the world economy see Huseyin Ramazanoglu (ed.), Turkey in the World Capitalist System (London: Gower, 1985).
For a discussion of the activities and the control exercised by the Joint American Military Mission for Aid to Turkey, which was set up as a result of the Truman Doctrine, see Daniel Lerner and Richard D. Robinson, ‘Sword and Ploughshares: The Turkish Army as a Modernizing Force’, in Henry Bienen (ed.), The Military and Modernization (Chicago: Aldine Atherton, 1971) pp. 129–33.
Demetrios G. Papademetriou, ‘A Retrospective Look at Mediterranean Labor Migration to Europe’, in Carl F. Pinkele and Adamantia Pollis (eds), The Contemporary Mediterranean World (New York: Praeger, 1983) p. 239. The author estimates that the number of ‘guest workers’ remains at 3/4 million in 1980. Immigrants’ remittances, which increased from 1979 to 1982 after an earlier decline, have been steadily declining since 1982; see OECD Economic Surveys 1986/1987: Turkey (Paris: OECD, 1987) p. 84.
Irvin Cemil Schick and Ertugrul Ahmet Tonak, ‘The Political Economy of Quicksand: International Dimensions of Turkey’s Economic Crisis’, The Insurgent Socialist, X, 3 (Winter 1981) pp. 68–70.
Kemal, op. cit., pp. 17–18; Keyder, op. cit., pp.303–5, for an overview of the economic crisis leading to the military coup; Ziya Onis, ‘Stabilization and Growth in a Semi-Industrial Economy; An Evaluation of the Recent Turkish Experiment, 1977–1984’, METU Studies in Development, 13, 1 and 2 (1986) pp. 7–14.
Walter F. Weiker, The Modernization of Turkey: from Ataturk to the present day (New York: Holmes & Meier, 1981) p. xv, note.
Berch Berberoglu, Turkey in Crisis (London: Zed Press, 1982) pp. 99–100, for real wages. For a discussion of agricultural policy which worsened rural unemployment and massive migration to the cities and the consequent increase of unemployment to 11 per cent of the labour force by 1967, see ibid., p.97.
See Helsinki Watch, State of Flux: Human Rights in Turkey (New York: December 1987 update), pp. 114–49.
Jane Cousins, Turkey: Torture and Political Persecution (London: Pluto Press, 1973).
Amnesty International, Torture in Turkey (London: July 1980) p. 2.
The discussion of provisions of the 1982 constitution is based on the official English version of The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey’. For a defence of the new constitution as an appropriate reaction to the previous one which ‘had been liberal to a fault’, see John H. McFadden, ‘Civil-Military Relations in the Third Turkish Republic’, The Middle East Journal, 39, 1 (Winter 1985) pp. 69–85.
There is little data on the distribution of income in Turkey. In one of the few studies, Merih Celasun, ‘Income Distribution and Domestic Terms of Trade in Turkey, 1978–1983’, Metu Studies in Development, 13, 1 and 2 (1986), p. 194, states that ‘the Turkish economy appears to have experienced... a significant deterioration in income distribution during 1979–83’. Moreover, the percentage decline in real income from 1978 to 1983 was greatest in the bottom decile, particularly in the agricultural sector, ibid., pp.208–9.
The rate of inflation in 1986 was approximately 30 per cent; OECD, 1987, p. 60. The foreign debt began increasing steadily from 1982; ibid, p. 25. For an analysis of the economic impact of Ozal’s economic policies in the first few years see Altan Yalpat, ‘Turkey’s Economy under the Generals’, Merip Reports, 14, 3 (March/April 1984) pp. 19–22.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1989 David P. Forsythe
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pollis, A. (1989). Development, Growth and Human Rights: the Case of Turkey. In: Forsythe, D.P. (eds) Human Rights and Development. International Political Economy Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19967-9_14
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-19967-9_14
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-45988-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-19967-9
eBook Packages: Palgrave Social & Cultural Studies CollectionSocial Sciences (R0)