Rights, Accountability and Power in Development

Recognised by the Norwegian Research Council for its World Class Status, the RAPID cluster is an arena for academic discussion focusing on rights and power in development. The cluster provides a platform for exploring theory, policy, and practice with the aim to advance new knowledge for our research, teaching and publications.

RAPID draws on various conceptualisations of rights and their bearing on development theory and practice. We are supportive of a rights-based approach to development that is equally concerned with civil and political rights (e.g. the right to a trial, not to be tortured), as well as with economic, social and cultural rights (the right to food, housing, a job). Human rights accountability and its use in development planning and processes are also central in this approach. However, RAPID encourages a  broad view of rights, and strives for including diverse normative or non-normative interpretations from:

  • Gender Rights
  • Marginalized and Indigenous Peoples Rights
  • Labour Rights
  • Water Rights and Governance
  • River and Nature Rights
  • Land Rights and Study of the Impacts of Land Acquisitions
  • Environmental Politics and Rights to Resources
  • Conflict and Strategies for Resolution
  • Legal Pluralism
  • Energy and Extractive Politics

Our analytical and epistemological approaches recognize that competing political structures, discourses, ideologies, systems of knowledge, and practices influence how rights gain, maintain and lose meaning and power. This is why we draw on analyses of accountability and power struggles in order to understand rights and their bearing on development. RAPID is an inter-disciplinary research group, drawing on a diversity of backgrounds that include anthropology, human geography, sociology, political science, economy, and development studies.

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RAPID seminar series

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In October 2020, RAPID was awarded funding by the Research Council of Norway in order to support the development of the cluster. This funding allows us to start a new seminar series, aimed at academic advancement and improved networking. The theme of the series is “Rethinking Rights and Resources for the Green Transformation”

RAPID receives RC funding for cluster strengthening and renewal

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The Rights, Accountability and Power in Development (RAPID) received funding from the Research Council of Norway for the 4-year project Rethinking Rights and Resources for the Green Transformation,  aimed at academic strengthening and renewal of the research cluster.

Noragric research group given 'world class' status

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Noragric's 'Rights, Accountability and Power in Development' (RAPID) research group receives top ranking from the Research Council of Norway and the Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education.

Published 18. September 2012 - 15:00 - Updated 17. January 2023 - 12:48