Human Rights in Global Politics

Leading scholars evaluate the philosophical basis of human rights, and the development of a global human rights culture.

Tim Dunne (Edited by), Nicholas J. Wheeler (Edited by)

9780521641388, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 28 March 1999

352 pages, 1 b/w illus.
23.6 x 15.6 x 2.8 cm, 0.675 kg

"Human Rights in Global Politics...distinguishes itself ...by its solid theoretical and practical approach to analyzing human rights at the end of the century." William Felice, Recent Books on Ethics and International Affairs

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.

Introduction: human rights and the fifty years' crisis Tim Dunne and Nicholas J. Wheeler
Part I. Theories of Human Rights: 1. Three tyrannies of human rights Ken Booth
2. The social construction of international human rights Jack Donnelly
3. Universal human rights: a critique Chris Brown
4. Non-ethnocentric universalism Bhikhu Parekh
5. Towards an ethic of global responsibility Mary Midgley
Part II. The Practices of Human Wrongs: 6. The challenge of genocide and genocidal politics in an era of globalisation Richard Falk
7. Transnational civil society Mary Kaldor
8. Global voices: civil society and the media in global crises Martin Shaw
9. Refugees: a global human rights and security crisis Gil Loescher
10. The silencing of women Georgina Ashworth
11. Power, principles and prudence: protecting human right in a divided world Andrew Hurrell
12. Conclusion: learning beyond frontiers Ken Booth and Tim Dunne.

Subject Areas: Human rights [JPVH]