The world is rapidly changing, but in ways that many of us fail to understand. For many, things are bad. For many, things are getting better. So we need to understand how the world can both be bad and getting better at the same time, and what this means for our understanding of social change and development.

Lying behind an enlargement of human capabilities lies a set of ethical concerns that need to be addressed. One way of addressing these concerns is through realizing human rights.