ABSTRACT
This chapter presents the historical evolution of human rights encompassing civic, political, economic, social and cultural rights illustrating their importance in Britain in the 17th century, the French and American Revolutions in the 18th century and the movement for human rights after World War II in the 20th century. Economic and social rights and economic democracy are then discussed in connection with alternative models of social policy and the welfare state in advanced capitalist countries (center countries) and the developmental state in the global periphery. The chapter also examines property rights distinguishing between personal property and large-scale capitalist ownership of the means of production. It also traces the modes through which common assets are privatized including “primitive accumulation”, “accumulation by dispossession” and neoclassic theories of property rights. The chapter contrasts targeted and universalistic social policies, universal basic incomes and capital grants.
