What is the relationship between rights and interests

What is the relationship between a person's rights and his interests? Conventional wisdom has come to hold the notion of a person's rights virtually within the same breath as his interests - that a person's rights and his interests are one and the same. The rights of a person, which are enshrined within the spirit of the negative liberties accorded to him or her by the state, have come to symbolize the essence of the …

…to the social fabric since they, in promoting self-interest, result in the destruction of social interest. But it is possible to take a more benign view of this, as Waldron suggests, analogous to the free market and the 'invisible hand' mechanism that works within it: perhaps the best social outcome for all would be one achieved by numerous individuals acting in their own best interests, with their ability to do so protected by their rights.