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Is ‘Human Rights’ The Right Approach For Protecting The Interests Of Forest-Dependent People?, Prakash Kashwan Feb 2014

Is ‘Human Rights’ The Right Approach For Protecting The Interests Of Forest-Dependent People?, Prakash Kashwan

Prakash Kashwan

Nature conservation is often promoted in the name of the greater good of humanity. However, in a large number of cases, nature conservation is associated with increased militarization of resource control (see the select bibliography below). International conservation organizations have responded to such concerns by developing proposals for what they refer to as ‘rights-based approaches to conservation’. Some of the biggest conservation organizations have also come together to form the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights (CIHR), which is a consortium of international conservation NGOs that seek to improve the practice of conservation by promoting integration of human rights in conservation …


Studying Local Representation: A Critical Review, Prakash Kashwan Dec 2013

Studying Local Representation: A Critical Review, Prakash Kashwan

Prakash Kashwan

What does it mean for a government or an authority to be representative? Obviously, when democratic governments rule according to what ‘people/citizens’ desire they can be said to be representative. However, citizens’ expressed desires are shaped by the environment within which they live. In those cases, desires cannot be taken to be the benchmark against which actions of representative governments can be judged. Hence, Przeworski (1999:2 citing Pitkin 1967) defines representation more broadly as ‘acting in the best interest of the public’. The use of the phrase ‘interest of the public’ begs a simple but critical question: Who constitutes as …