Download or read book The Politics of Human Rights written by Andrew Vincent and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2010 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Politics of Human Rights provides a systematic introductory overview of the nature and development of human rights. At the same time it offers an engaging argument about human rights and their relationship with politics. The author argues that human rights have only a slight relation to natural rights and they are historically novel: In large part they are a post-1945 reaction to genocide which is, in turn, linked directly to the lethal potentialities of the nation-state. He suggests that an understanding of human rights should nonetheless focus primarily on politics and that there are no universally agreed moral or religious standards to uphold them, they exist rather in the context of social recognition within a political association. A consequence of this is that the 1948 Universal Declaration is a political, not a legal or moral, document. Vincent goes on to show that human rights are essentially reliant upon the self-limitation capacity of the civil state. With the development of this state, certain standards of civil behavior have become, for a sector of humanity, slowly and painfully more customary. He shows that these standards of civility have extended to a broader society of states. At their best human rights are an ideal civil state vocabulary. The author explains that we comprehend both our own humanity and human rights through our recognition relations with other humans, principally via citizenship of a civil state. Vincent concludes that the paradox of human rights is that they are upheld, to a degree, by the civil state, but the point of such rights is to protect against another dimension of this same tradition (the nation-state). Human rights are essentially part of a struggle at the core of the state tradition.
Download or read book The Debasement of Human Rights written by Aaron Rhodes and published by Encounter Books. This book was released on 2018-04-17 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The idea of human rights began as a call for individual freedom from tyranny, yet today it is exploited to rationalize oppression and promote collectivism. How did this happen? Aaron Rhodes, recognized as “one of the leading human rights activists in the world” by the University of Chicago, reveals how an emancipatory ideal became so debased. Rhodes identifies the fundamental flaw in the Universal Declaration of Human of Rights, the basis for many international treaties and institutions. It mixes freedom rights rooted in natural law—authentic human rights—with “economic and social rights,” or claims to material support from governments, which are intrinsically political. As a result, the idea of human rights has lost its essential meaning and moral power. The principles of natural rights, first articulated in antiquity, were compromised in a process of accommodation with the Soviet Union after World War II, and under the influence of progressivism in Western democracies. Geopolitical and ideological forces ripped the concept of human rights from its foundations, opening it up to abuse. Dissidents behind the Iron Curtain saw clearly the difference between freedom rights and state-granted entitlements, but the collapse of the USSR allowed demands for an expanding array of economic and social rights to gain legitimacy without the totalitarian stigma. The international community and civil society groups now see human rights as being defined by legislation, not by transcendent principles. Freedoms are traded off for the promise of economic benefits, and the notion of collective rights is used to justify restrictions on basic liberties. We all have a stake in human rights, and few serious observers would deny that the concept has lost clarity. But no one before has provided such a comprehensive analysis of the problem as Rhodes does here, joining philosophy and history with insights from his own extensive work in the field.
Download or read book The Politics of Human Rights written by Sabine C. Carey and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-10-14 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human rights is an important issue in contemporary politics, and the last few decades have also seen a remarkable increase in research and teaching on the subject. This book introduces students to the study of human rights and aims to build on their interest while simultaneously offering an alternative vision of the subject. Many texts focus on the theoretical and legal issues surrounding human rights. This book adopts a substantially different approach which uses empirical data derived from research on human rights by political scientists to illustrate the occurrence of different types of human rights violations across the world. The authors devote attention to rights as well as to responsibilities, neither of which stops at one country's political borders. They also explore how to deal with repression and the aftermath of human rights violations, making students aware of the prospects for and realities of progress.
Download or read book Human Rights written by Michael Goodhart and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human Rights: Politics and Practice is an introduction to human rights that goes beyond a purely legal perspective to look at theoretical issues and practical approaches. Bringing together leading experts, it is up to date with cutting edge research in a constantly evolving field.
Download or read book Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry written by Michael Ignatieff and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2011-12-28 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michael Ignatieff draws on his extensive experience as a writer and commentator on world affairs to present a penetrating account of the successes, failures, and prospects of the human rights revolution. Since the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, this revolution has brought the world moral progress and broken the nation-state's monopoly on the conduct of international affairs. But it has also faced challenges. Ignatieff argues that human rights activists have rightly drawn criticism from Asia, the Islamic world, and within the West itself for being overambitious and unwilling to accept limits. It is now time, he writes, for activists to embrace a more modest agenda and to reestablish the balance between the rights of states and the rights of citizens. Ignatieff begins by examining the politics of human rights, assessing when it is appropriate to use the fact of human rights abuse to justify intervention in other countries. He then explores the ideas that underpin human rights, warning that human rights must not become an idolatry. In the spirit of Isaiah Berlin, he argues that human rights can command universal assent only if they are designed to protect and enhance the capacity of individuals to lead the lives they wish. By embracing this approach and recognizing that state sovereignty is the best guarantee against chaos, Ignatieff concludes, Western nations will have a better chance of extending the real progress of the past fifty years. Throughout, Ignatieff balances idealism with a sure sense of practical reality earned from his years of travel in zones of war and political turmoil around the globe. Based on the Tanner Lectures that Ignatieff delivered at Princeton University's Center for Human Values in 2000, the book includes two chapters by Ignatieff, an introduction by Amy Gutmann, comments by four leading scholars--K. Anthony Appiah, David A. Hollinger, Thomas W. Laqueur, and Diane F. Orentlicher--and a response by Ignatieff.
Download or read book Human Rights and World Politics Second Edition written by David P. Forsythe and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 1989-01-01 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By the 1980s the concept of internationally recognized human rights was being reinforced by a growing body of international law and by the multiplication of agencies concerned with such matters as torture in Paraguay, slavery in Mauritania, the British use of force in Northern Ireland, and starvation and malnutrition in EastøAfrica and Southeast Asia. No matter how much a national leader might find it more convenient to focus on other matters, some world organization or private group could be counted on to keep the issue of universal human rights alive. Because the subject is particularly timely, David P. Forsythe has revised Human Rights and World Politics, first published in 1983. For this second edition, Forsythe has updated all chapters and completely rewritten the one on U.S. foreign policy to include the second Reagan administration. After a brief history of the evolution of human rights in international law and diplomacy, he surveys human rights standards as developed by the United Nations and other official organizations. Moving from the definitive core of law, Forsythe turns to the interpretation and implementation of rights agreements; the role of private or unofficial organizations such as Amnesty International and the Red Cross; the relationship between civil-political and socio-economic rights; the role of human rights in U.S. foreign policy, particularly under Carter and Reagan; and lobbying in Washington by human-rights interest groups. In all, Forsythe?s exhaustive research and careful analysis bring clarity and concreteness to a subject too often obscured by rhetoric.
Download or read book The Politics of Justice and Human Rights written by Anthony J. Langlois and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2001-10-15 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book makes a major contribution to the theory and practice of human rights, engaging in particular with the "Asian values" debate. It is especially concerned with the tension between a universal regime of human rights and its ability to accommodate diversity. Incorporating original fieldwork from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, the book also draws out the significance of Southeast Asian developments for international human rights discourse. It is likely to become a definitive account of political discussions of human rights in Southeast Asia and an important contribution to the development of human rights theory.
Download or read book The Politics of Human Rights written by Tony Evans and published by Human Security in the Global E. This book was released on 2005-05-20 with total page 182 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a new edition of this popular introduction to the politics of human rights.Tony Evans argues that the state's central role in protecting and promoting rights has been severely weakened under globalization and that as a consequence human rights are becoming less attainable. As the value of the market grows, the value of individual human rights decreases. The author departs from traditional interpretations of human rights by focusing on the political economy of human rights rather than on the philosophical or legal aspects. He analyses how issues related to globalization, such as the environment, population movement patterns and free trade impact on individual human rights. In conclusion, he argues that the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and other major treaties must be renegotiated to take globalization into account.
Download or read book Human Rights in Global Politics written by Timothy Dunne and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-03-28 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There is a stark contradiction between the theory of universal human rights and the everyday practice of human wrongs. This timely volume investigates whether human rights abuses are a result of the failure of governments to live up to a universal human rights standard, or whether the search for moral universals is a fundamentally flawed enterprise which distracts us from the task of developing rights in the context of particular ethical communities. In the first part of the book chapters by Ken Booth, Jack Donnelly, Chris Brown, Bhikhu Parekh and Mary Midgley explore the philosophical basis of claims to universal human rights. In the second part, Richard Falk, Mary Kaldor, Martin Shaw, Gil Loescher, Georgina Ashworth and Andrew Hurrell reflect on the role of the media, global civil society, states, migration, non-governmental organisations, capitalism, and schools and universities in developing a global human rights culture.
Download or read book The Law Policy and Politics of the UN Human Rights Council written by Bertrand G. Ramcharan and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-05-19 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The UN Human Rights Council is the leading human rights organ of the United Nations and, ten years after it was established, it has attracted commendation as well as severe criticism. Its universal periodic review is widely recognized as a valuable process of international cooperation to advance the universal implementation of human rights. However, it has been criticized for not acting effectively and fairly in dealing with situations of shocking violations of human rights in many parts of the world. It is an international organ with the highest responsibilities to uphold universal values but, at the same time, it is a political organ of United Nations Member States, and it shows the characteristics of both a values-based body and a theatre of political drama. It is the merit of this book to present the Human Rights Council in terms of its mandates, roles and organization while seeking to remind the membership and the international community at large that the Council must be anchored in the modern human rights law of the Charter - of which the author gives a superb presentation. The book then proceeds to make the case that human rights are part of international constitutional law and this is exceedingly important at a time when universal values have come under stress from various quarters including from terrorist formations. The argument of the book is essentially that the modern human rights law of the Charter and the human rights provisions of international constitutional law must take precedence for everyone, everywhere.
Download or read book Mobilizing for Human Rights written by Beth A. Simmons and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2009-10-29 with total page 473 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beth Simmons demonstrates through a combination of statistical analysis and case studies that the ratification of treaties generally leads to better human rights practices. She argues that international human rights law should get more practical and rhetorical support from the international community as a supplement to broader efforts to address conflict, development, and democratization.
Download or read book After Evil written by Robert Meister and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2011 with total page 546 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The way in which mainstream human rights discourse speaks of such evils as the Holocaust, slavery, or apartheid puts them solidly in the past. Its elaborate techniques of "transitional" justice encourage future generations to move forward by creating a false assumption of closure, enabling those who are guilty to elude responsibility. This approach to history, common to late-twentieth-century humanitarianism, doesn't presuppose that evil ends when justice begins. Rather, it assumes that a time before justice is the moment to put evil in the past. Merging examples from literature and history, Robert Meister confronts the problem of closure and the resolution of historical injustice. He boldly challenges the empty moral logic of "never again" or the theoretical reduction of evil to a cycle of violence and counterviolence, broken only once evil is remembered for what it was. Meister criticizes such methods for their deferral of justice and susceptibility to exploitation and elaborates the flawed moral logic of "never again" in relation to Auschwitz and its evolution into a twenty-first-century doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect.
Download or read book The Politics of Human Rights In East Asia written by Kenneth Christie and published by Pluto Press (UK). This book was released on 2001-02-20 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes statistics.
Download or read book Politics of Human Rights in Southeast Asia written by Philip J. Eldridge and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-01-11 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The divide between the West and Southeast Asia seems to be nowhere more apparent than in debates about human rights. Within these diverse geographical, political and cultural climates, human rights seem to have become relative, and the quest for absolutes seems unattainable. In this new book Philip J Eldridge seeks to question this stalemate. He argues that the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' inclusion in United Nations' human rights treaties could be the common ground that bridges the gap between East and West. Eldridge uses topical case studies and primary research from Malaysia, Indonesia, East Timor and Australia, to compare the effectiveness of United Nations' human rights directives on local democracies. This study presents insightful research into a hotly debated topic. As such it will be a thought-provoking resource for students of human rights, politics and international relations.
Download or read book The Power of Human Rights written by Thomas Risse and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1999-08-05 with total page 338 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Tunisia and Morocco.
Download or read book Agamben and the Politics of Human Rights written by John Lechte and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2013-05-23 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human rights are in crisis today. Everywhere one looks, there is violence, deprivation, and oppression, which human rights norms seem powerless to prevent. This book investigates the roots of the current crisis through the thought of Italian philosopher, Giorgio Agamben. Human rights theory and practice must come to grips with key problems identified by Agamben "e; the violence of the sovereign state of exception and the reduction of humanity to 'bare' life. Any renewal of human rights today must involve breaking decisively with the traditional coordinates of Western political thought and instead affirm a new understanding of life and political action.
Download or read book Sovereign Emergencies written by Patrick William Kelly and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2018-05-10 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shows how Latin America was the crucible of the global human rights revolution of the 1970s.
