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Human Rights Protection and Economic Development in China: Right to Subsistence-based Development and its Future

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Abstract

Historically, economic development and human rights go hand in hand. On the one hand, the protection of human rights is the purpose of economic development, i.e., promoting economic and social rights through economic development, and then creating conditions for the realization of civil and political rights. On the other hand, the protection of human rights is a means to economic development, and only through the protection of human rights, can sustained and healthy economic development be realized. The economic development model of China since 1978, for quite a long period of time, is suitable for subsistence-based development. However, it also has created risks of economic failure and political legitimacy crises. So it is necessary to adopt a scientific development model which values human rights.

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Notes

  1. See http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012cpc/2012-11/18/content_15939493_5.htm.

  2. “In times of food shortage, so frequent in the eighteenth century, the populations of each district turned as one to the intendant and seemed to expect its food from him alone. It is true that everyone already blamed the government for all their problems.” Tocqueville (1998, pp. 144–145).

  3. “As the prosperity which I have just described developed in France, minds, however, appeared more unstable and nervous; public discontent sharpened; hatred against the old institutions grew. The nation made visible steps towards a revolution.” Tocqueville (1998, pp. 221).

  4. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012cpc/2012-11/18/content_15939493_3.htm.

  5. See Tomasevski 1989, “The World Bank and Human Rights,” in Yearbook on Human Rights in Developing Countries, 113–114; Sano 2000, “Development and Human Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly, 22:742; Nelson and Dorsey 2003, “At the Nexus of Human Rights and Development,” World Development 31/12:2013–2026.

  6. “As the prosperity which I have just described developed in France, minds, however, appeared more unstable and nervous; public discontent sharpened; hatred against the old institutions grew. The nation made visible steps towards a revolution.” Tocqueville (1998, pp. 221).

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Acknowledgments

I would like to thank the China Development Bank for supporting my research; and would like to thank Mr. Wang Jin-long, Professor Xiong Mei-ying at Stanford University, Professor Jiang Dong at Renmin University of China.

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  1. Beijing, China

    Lifeng Wang

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  1. Lifeng Wang
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Wang, L. Human Rights Protection and Economic Development in China: Right to Subsistence-based Development and its Future. Fudan J. Hum. Soc. Sci. 7, 583–599 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-014-0045-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40647-014-0045-8

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