L'accès aux biens et services essentiels » : une notion centrale et ambigüe du développement

This article analyses discourses made in favor of the notion of access in the field of development. It underlines the ambiguity of this notion in the rhetoric of development. The first section tackles the ambiguity of the notion of access to essential goods and services by analyzing its institutional and theoretical roots. The second section looks trough concrete consequences of this paradigm by analyzing the different ways international actors promote access in the field of development. The third section illustrates the ambivalence of the notion of access in the field of public health. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT] Reprinted by permission of L'Harmattan