Short Abstract:

Research in wellbeing has been growing in recent decades, yet the questions as to what is wellbeing and if there is a human right to wellbeing remain unresolved. Drawing upon the “NIC theory of rights”, this study seeks to put forward a human rights-based concept of wellbeing as an alternative to the objective and subjective accounts of wellbeing.

Long Abstract:

Despite decades of investigations of wellbeing at different levels from micro to macro, and in different disciplines from economics and philosophy to law and social policy, there is as yet no or little consensus on the definition of wellbeing. Most theories of wellbeing can be categorized into two groups: objective and subjective accounts of wellbeing. Whereas the objective list theories have been accused of being elitist and paternalistic, the subjective approaches have been challenged as being too subjective to form a firm ground for wellbeing policy making. Moreover, it is still largely unclear whether there is a human right to wellbeing or not, and if so, how to make a distinction between such human right and other related rights in particular the right to health.

This present paper is intended to form a chapter of a book project on human rights and well-being. Drawing upon the “NIC theory of rights”, this study seeks to put forward a human rights-based concept of wellbeing as an alternative to the objective and subjective accounts of wellbeing. This new model of wellbeing is built upon the NIC theory of rights, advanced by this author elsewhere (Chalabi, OUP, 2018). NIC stands for Need, Interest and Capability. The NIC theory of rights was advanced to integrate the interest theory of rights, the needs-based approach to rights and the capability approach to rights. The NIC theory seeks to reconcile these three theories indicating that basic needs, interests and capabilities are interdependent, and all together form the foundations of basic human rights. The central proposition of the NIC theory is that ‘being endowed with a basic right consists of being capable of meeting one or more of basic needs in accordance with interests’ (Chalabi, OUP 2018). By explicating the conceptual definitions of human needs, interests and capabilities and illuminating the relationships among these three concepts and basic human rights, the NIC theory lays the foundation for developing a new model of wellbeing. Adopting the NIC theory of rights, this article puts forward a human rights-based account of wellbeing as an alternative to the subjective and objective accounts. This alternative account helps further the sharpness of the definition of wellbeing and clarifies the distinction between wellbeing and other interconnected concepts in particular health and happiness. This new account also lays the ground for answering the question as to whether wellbeing is a human right which will be addressed in another chapter of the book project, mentioned above, from ontological, axiological, sociological and practical perspectives.