Abstract
This article proposes an alternative view of the ‘right to development’ which is supported by certain norms whose bases are well-established in international law. Such a view is necessitated by the unjustified expansion of the right's definition courtesy of the 1986 Declaration on the Right to Development and the equally expansionary tendencies of some of its proponents. An expanded definition of the right to development dilutes its strength as a legal principle. How can the right to development be conceived and advanced as a principle of international law possessing a ‘hard law’ status? What are the precise contents of this right and against whom can they be claimed? This article argues that the right to development regroups and consolidates into a single rubric certain fundamental norms and draws its legal strength from their simultaneous and interlocking operation in the international system.