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By Sylvia Ann Hewlett

This paper was originally presented in May 1978 at a Conference organized and co-sponsored by the American Society of International Law at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.

Summary

Public discussion on the issue of human rights in the Third World has generated more heat than light because it has failed to recognize the large-scale economic costs of more humane policies. There is no natural affinity between economic growth, political freedom and social justice in capitalist systems. In the contemporary underdeveloped world, repression and/or massive poverty, have become integral parts of the dominant growth strategies.

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