The basic needs thinking of the time appeared particularly vulnerable to two
sets of critiques from quite different sources: from economists’ criticisms of
needs as opposed to wants met through markets, and from growing postmodern
currents critiquing its so-called arbitrary postulates about human
nature from a relativist perspective (Doyal and Gough 1991; Gough,
McGregor and Camfield 2007; Bebbington et al 2007). In sum, as Des
Gasper (2007) notes, the fall of basic needs theory reflected its lack of
conceptual depth, technical refinement, and an appealing political language
suited to its time.
Now basic human needs are back on the political map. The UN Summit on
Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995 agreed on a set of targets for
tackling world poverty over the next twenty years, and five years later the
Millennium Declaration was adopted by the General assembly of the United
Nations in September 2000. The accompanying Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs) go on to set targets and identify indicators for many basic
needs, for example survival (e.g. infant mortality), health (e.g. prevalence of
HIV/AIDS and malaria), hunger, access to safe water, and education
(literacy and primary school enrolment).