Biographies Short Biography Semblanzas

Gregory Valatin has worked as a fisheries economist in Scotland, held research fellowships in the Netherlands and France, is currently a Research Associate at Darwin College, University of Cambridge and is studying for a doctorate in economics at the University of Siena. His publications include:

"An Essay on Humanizing the Market and Economic Discourse", Journal of International Economics Studies, No.18, co-author, forthcoming.

Dipartimento di Economia Politica, Universita degli Studi di Siena, Piazza San Francesco 7, 53100 Siena, Italy

Human security is a recent concept founded upon a "belief that human beings should he able to lead lives of creativity, without having their survival threatened or their dignity impaired." (Japanese Prime Minister Obuchi Keizo cited in Amartya Sen, 2002, p.1) Basic Education & Human Security. (Workshop on Education, Equity & Security, Kolkata, India, January 2-4). It can be conceptualized as measuring the ability of individuals to exercise core human rights. It is a fundamental element of global justice, reflecting universal societal values and the founding objective of the United Nations of creating a world characterized by "freedom from fear" and "freedom from want". It can be characterized as a "global good" as all UN member states are officially committed to its provision, recognizing that it has global and non-rival benefits. It has generated considerable interest among policy-makers, but has been largely ignored in the economics literature. The concept is fundamentally incompatible with the traditional utilitarian framework of welfare economics in which rights are considered of no intrinsic value and only individual utilities matter. It fits most easily with the capabilities approach Sen (1999) in which human rights are conceptualized as rights to core capabilities and removal of ‘unfreedoms’ constitute both the means and end of economic development.