ABSTRACT
A popular argument among Singapore elites, especially in the thriving early 1990s, was that curbing civil and political freedom had enabled their nation to attain rapid growth and development. Economic rights, they argued, should take precedence over civil and political rights. But this line of reasoning ignores the real factors behind development: Singapore's economic success is not primarily a result of limiting dissent, nor is the stymied economic growth of a nation like India the product of too much democracy. As I argue in this essay, it is possible to have both food and freedom. Indeed, only an integrated approach to human rights can provide for the full development of the individual and community. This essay appeared in Commonwealth Currents (Vol. 3, 1996).
