ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the study and understanding of human rights and international political economy in several ways. It chapter addresses the theoretical relationship between the variables of interest, specifically the causal path from trade to human rights. The chapter discusses the implications of the results for both future human rights research as well as future policy prescription. It suggests that the impact of trade on human rights is augmented by its independent effects on both economic development and democracy. Economic policy, concerns about economic development, democratization and human rights are undoubtedly included in many of the opposition’s demands. The liberal ethos suggests that the presence of a free market system and the adoption of market-oriented domestic policies by Third World states is the best approach for economic development. The radical perspective and the critics of globalization argue that there are several deleterious effects of foreign economic penetration on domestic conditions.
