1st Edition
Why Human Rights Still Matter in Contemporary Global Affairs
This book elucidates why human rights still matter in contemporary global affairs, and what can lead to better protection of international human rights in a post-liberal order.
It blends theoretical, empirical, and normative perspectives, while providing much-needed analysis in light of the perils of populism, authoritarianism, and toxic nationalism, as well as highlighting the hopes with which people around the world view human rights in the new millennium. Systematically combining theoretical perspectives from across the disciplines with numerous case studies, it demonstrates not only the complexities of the domestic conditions involved, but also the ways in which human dignity can be preserved and promoted during periods of rapid change and uncertainty. Finally, the book addresses the question of how to protect human rights in such a world in which the active promotion of democratic values and enforcement of human rights may not be necessarily aligned with evolving economic and geopolitical interests of many great and diverse powers on the global scene. As such, it is a timely intervention for human rights as a concept as it has been attacked and eroded by the instability in our world today.
This book will be of key interest to scholars and students of human rights in politics, law, philosophy, sociology, and history and to humanitarian bodies, practitioners, and policy makers.
List of Contributors
Acknowledgements
1. Why Human Rights Still Matter in Contemporary World Affairs
Mahmood Monshipouri
Part I: Framing the Human Rights Discourse
2. How Do Human Rights Matter?
Michael Goodhart
3. Broadening Human Rights: The Case for a Pluralistic Approach
Hussein Banai and Anthony Tirado Chase
4. Making Human Rights Meaningful Through Practice: Lessons from the Middle East
Shadi Mokhtari
5. Assessing Regional Human Rights Systems: from Convergence to Divergence
Daniel J. Whelan and Andrew McWard
Part II: Human Rights Practice: Legal and Moral Responsibility
6. State Responsibility and International Law
Mark Gibney
7. Human Rights and Humanitarian Action Will Endure: The Case of International Committee of the Red Cross
David P. Forsythe
8. Denial and Debilitation: Environmental Rights and the Harm of Climate Change Denial
Richard P. Hiskes
9. Transitional Justice: From Accountability to Peace
Mahmood Monshipouri and William V. Dunlap
Part III: Protecting Economic Rights in a Globalizing World
10. Labor Rights as Human Rights: Theoretical Foundations and Practical Implications
Carol C. Gould
11. The Trajectory of the Right to Food in Brazil: The Debate Between Means and Access
Anthony Pahnke
12. Social Movements, Development Policy, and Human Rights
Shareen Hertel and Rajeshwari Majumdar
13. Migrant Workers and Human Rights in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries
Zahra Babar
14. Human Rights and Inequality
Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann
Part IV: Human Rights Challenges in a Fractured, Violent, and Intolerant World
15. Threats to Freedom of the Press
Andrei Richter
16. Addressing Religious Intolerance in an Increasingly Illiberal World
Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan
17. Neoliberalism and Women’s Rights
Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat
18. Climate Refugees, Forced Migrants, and the Syrian Crisis
Mahmood Monshipouri
Part V: The Way Forward
19. The Resilience of Rights in a Post-Liberal World
Alison Brysk
Selected Bibliography
Index
Biography
Mahmood Monshipouri is Professor of International Relations at San Francisco State University and a Lecturer of Middle Eastern Politics at the Global Studies/International and Area Studies, University of California, Berkeley, USA.
"An outstanding collection of expert essays on many enduring philosophical issues and contemporary human rights debates. Every chapter provides avenues for further reading, suggestions for future research and ideas for improving human rights protection." - David Cingranelli, Co-Director of the Human Rights Institute, Binghamton University, SUNY, USA
"Are human rights outdated in our post-liberal world? This book brings together a diverse and distinguished set of scholars who argue for the continuing relevance of human rights in the struggle for social justice across the globe." - Jack Donnelly, Andrew Mellon Professor, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver, USA
"This timely, well-researched, and provocative book should be compulsory reading for everyone who cares about the future of human rights in a time of xenophobic nationalism, authoritarianism, and climate change denial." - Eric Stover, Faculty Director of the Human Rights Center, University of California, Berkeley, USA
"Why Human Rights Still Matter in Contemporary Global Affairs inspires much-needed optimism about the future of human rights, despite challenges from many directions. The book’s diverse authors provide constructive proposals for how human rights advocates can effectively attack today’s most salient global human rights concerns, such as economic inequality, and environmental justice in a world confronted by climate change." - Lisa Sundstrom, Co-Director of the International Relations Program, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
