This edition of the Yearbook on Human Rights in Developing Countries focuses on government policy with regard to the relationship between human rights and development in Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Norway. These thematic studies make a contribution to the discussion on the role of human rights in development policy in what are termed like-minded countries. The Yearbook also contains eight country reports which assess human rights trends in countries in the South, covering civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural rights during the period 1992-1994....

Since 1945, it is estimated, more people have perished as a result of gross human rights violations than as a result of war, yet we have little knowledge of why governments commit gross human rights violations. The present study, seeking to obtain an understanding of the causes underlying gross human rights violations, compares the human rights situation in a country where gross human rights violations are the rule (Guatemala) with the situation in a country where this type of violations does not occur (Costa Rica).
The focus of the study is on the short-term sources within the political...