Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the Rise of Global Human Rights Politics

Leading scholars demonstrate how colonial subjects, national liberation movements, and empires mobilized human rights language to contest self-determination during decolonization.

A. Dirk Moses (Edited by), Marco Duranti (Edited by), Roland Burke (Edited by)

9781108479356, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 16 July 2020

450 pages
23.5 x 15.8 x 3.1 cm, 0.8 kg

'… scholars interested in indigenous rights, genocide, crimes against humanity, and other topics related to postcolonial history will find relevant chapters assembled and woven seamlessly together. The theoretical underpinnings of the work will benefit graduate students and scholars of Cold War history, decolonization, and human rights because the volume challenges the standard narrative of the development of human rights in the 20th century.' H. L. Katz, Choice

This volume presents the first global history of human rights politics in the age of decolonization. The conflict between independence movements and colonial powers shaped the global human rights order that emerged after the Second World War. It was also critical to the genesis of contemporary human rights organizations and humanitarian movements. Anti-colonial forces mobilized human rights and other rights language in their campaigns for self-determination. In response, European empires harnessed the new international politics of human rights for their own ends, claiming that their rule, with its promise of 'development,' was the authentic vehicle for realizing them. Ranging from the postwar partitions and the wars of independence to Indigenous rights activism and post-colonial memory, this volume offers new insights into the history and legacies of human rights, self-determination, and empire to the present day.

Introduction. Human rights, empire, and after Roland Burke, Marco Duranti and A. Dirk Moses
Part I. Anti-colonial struggles and the right to self-determination: 1. Seeking the political kingdom: universal human rights and the anti-colonial movement in Africa Bonny Ibhawoh
2. Decolonizing the United Nations: Anti-colonialism and human rights in the French Empire Marco Duranti
3. The French Red Cross, decolonization, and humanitarianism during the Algerian War Jennifer Johnson
4. Connecting indigenous rights to human rights in the Anglo settler states: Another 1970s story Miranda Johnson
5. Privileging the Cold War over decolonization: The US emphasis on political rights Mary Ann Heiss
Part II. Post-colonial statehood and global human rights norms: 6. Cutting out the ulcer and washing away the incubus of the past: genocide prevention through population transfer A. Dirk Moses
7. Codifying minority rights: postcolonial constitutionalism in Burma, Ceylon, and India Cindy Ewing
8. Between ambitions and caution: India, human rights, and self-determination at the United Nations Raphaëlle Khan
9. 'From this era of passionate self-discovery': Norman Manley, human rights, and the end of colonial rule in Jamaica Steven L. B. Jensen
10. Re-entering histories of past imperial violence: Kenya, Indonesia, and the reach of transitional justice Michael Humphrey
Part III. Colonial and neo-colonial responses
11. The inventors of human rights in Africa: Portugal, late colonialism, and the UN human rights regime Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo and José Pedro Monteiro
12. 'A world made safe for diversity': Apartheid and the language of human rights, progress, and pluralism Roland Burke
13. Between humanitarian rights and human rights: René Cassin, architect of universality, diplomat of French Empire Jay Winter
14. The end of the Vietnam War and the rise of human rights Barbara Keys
15. Decolonizing the Geneva Conventions: national liberation and the development of humanitarian law Eleanor Davey
16. Liberté sans frontières, French humanitarianism, and the neoliberal critique of Third Worldism Jessica Whyte.

Subject Areas: Non-governmental organizations [NGOs JPWH], Political activism [JPW], Human rights [JPVH], Diplomacy [JPSD], Politics & government [JP], National liberation & independence, post-colonialism [HBTR]