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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political control & freedoms > Human rights > General
Does the lethal use of drones pose any new or difficult moral problems? Or is the controversy over these weapons merely a distraction from deeper questions regarding the justice of war and the United States' bellicose foreign policy? Opposing Perspectives on the Drone Debate pulls no punches in answering these questions as five scholars square off in a lively debate over the ethics of drones and their contentious use in a point-counterpoint debate. The contributing authors are some of the foremost thinkers in international affairs today, spanning the disciplines of philosophy, sociology, political science, and law. Topics debated range from the US's contested policy of so-called "targeted killing" in Pakistan's tribal regions to fears over the damaging effects such weaponry has on our democratic institutions to the more abstract moral questions raised by killing via remote control such as the duty to capture over kill.
Published under the auspices of the Consortium on Human Rights Development, this book presents a comparative analysis of two legal instruments: one national--the New Tanzanian Bill of Rights--and the other regional--The African Charter on Human Rights and People's Rights. Both are important for the purposes of protection and promotion of human rights. Human Rights in Africa records the movement towards anarchy and dictatorship in Africa which contributed tremendously to the new thinking and re-thinking about the need to respect human dignity in Africa. In this book, the author poignantly illustrates the national disregard of human rights. Taking the case of Tanzania, Peter shows various incidents of violation of human rights. He then cites examples of violations at different levels in other African and Third World countries. Part One of the book presents an historical examination of the Tanzanian Bill of Rights and the African Charter on Human and People's Rights. Part Two offers a thorough comparison of these two legal instruments. Part Three covers the entire scope of people's rights and Parts Four and Five take a look at the enforcement mechanism of these legal instruments. Part Six presents the author's conclusions and summary statements. Both the New Tanzanian Bill of Rights and the African Charter on Human and People's Rights can be found in their entirety in the Appendix. This book makes informative reading to anyone interested in international law, African history, human rights and related subjects.
Human information and communication technology (ICT) implants have developed for many years in a medical context. Such applications have become increasingly advanced, in some cases modifying fundamental brain function. Today, comparatively low-tech implants are being increasingly employed in non-therapeutic contexts, with applications ranging from the use of ICT implants for VIP entry into nightclubs, automated payments for goods, access to secure facilities and for those with a high risk of being kidnapped. Commercialisation and growing potential of human ICT implants have generated debate over the ethical, legal and social aspects of the technology, its products and application. Despite stakeholders calling for greater policy and legal certainty within this area, gaps have already begun to emerge between the commercial reality of human ICT implants and the current legal frameworks designed to regulate these products. This book focuses on the latest technological developments and on the legal, social and ethical implications of the use and further application of these technologies.
Moody presents the thesis that post-Confucian' societies are influenced by the legacy of a strong state ruling over a weak social structure. Ruling and opposition elites thus tend towar factionalism based on personal ties, and also to moralistic' rather than interest-based criticism, which often leads to extreme and irresponsible' political behavior. Moody applies this thesis to all the post-Confucian states of East Asia in uneven chapters on Taiwan, South Korea, South Vietnam, China, North Korea, Vietnam as a whole, and Japan. . . . Moody's witty and cynical style . . . and an elegant thesis make this work suitable for advanced undergraduates and graduate students as well. No country in the Confucian cultural area has shown great tolerance for competitive politics. China, Taiwan, the two Koreas, and Vietnam are either authoritarian or totalitarian in political structure. Thus Peter R. Moody, Jr., begins his comparative study of the historical backgrounds and contemporary political situations in post-Confucian states. "Political Opposition in Post-Confucian Society" studies the obstacles to democratization in East Asia. Japan, writes Moody, of the only exception to the political structure of this region, has not yet proven itself a competitive democracy and the present democratic system was imposed by foreign occupation. This book demonstrates how a similar logic of politics pervades these societies despite differences in culture and political institutions. Moody provides an up-to-date analysis of politics in these countries and examines contemporary developments in a historical and cultural context.
Over the last few decades national boundaries have become less and less important. "Between Cosmopolitan Ideals and State Sovereignty" explores how philosophers and political theorists have recast principles of justice and human rights in the light of the challenges posed by globalization. It discusses important ethical issues that arise at a global level and addresses such questions as whether human rights and sovereignty can ever be reconciled, how just political institutions can be developed in a world without boundaries and how humanitarian intervention can be justified.
While the crisis in Central America is receiving attention from scholars in a variety of disciplines, few works have focused on the role of nongovernment organizations in reducing levels of violence in that region. This remarkable case study examines the resilient struggle by workers at the Guatemala Coca-Cola bottling plant from 1976-1986, and documents why this union was able to survive within a repressed government to become a key factor in stimulating a larger independent labor movement in the country. Scholars of political sociology, labor studies, and the governments and politics of Central America will do well to read this volume.
The New Left was founded in 1962, and as a social and political protest movement, it captured the attention of the nation in the Sixties. By 1968, the New Left was marching in unison with hundreds of political action groups to achieve one goal—the end of the war in Vietnam. Under J. Edgar Hoover's direction, the FBI went from an intelligence collection agency during WWII, to an organization that tried to undermine protest movements like the New Left. Hoover viewed the New Left as a threat to the American way of life, so in an enormous effort of questionable legality, the FBI implemented some 285 counter-intelligence (COINTELPRO) actions against the New Left. The purpose of COINTELPRO was to infiltrate, disrupt, and otherwise neutralize the entire movement. In truth, the FBI intended to wage war on the antiwar movement. In this real-life spy story—J. Edgar Hoover and his G-Men, wiretaps, burglaries, misinformation campaigns, informants, and plants—Davis offers a glimpse into the endlessly fascinating world of the Sixties. Kent State, Columbia University, Vietnam Moratorium Day, the 1968 Democratic National Convention, the Cambodian invasion and March Against Death are all examined in this riveting account of the longest youth protest movement in American history. This is the only book devoted entirely to the New Left COINTELPRO, and the first one written after the declassification of more than 6,000 counterintelligence documents that reveal the true nature and extent of the FBI's Assault on the Left.
Robert Weatherley examines the role of nationalism in Chinese thinking on democracy and human rights spanning four successive periods: the late Qing, the Republic, Mao's China and post-Mao China. During this time, many of the debates in China about democracy and rights have been tied to the question of how to make China strong. The trigger is usually a perceived threat from foreign imperialism. Following the outbreak of the First Opium War in 1839, this imperialism took a military form, leading many Chinese reformers to embrace a system of democracy and rights in order to protect China from further foreign encroachments. In more recent years, the perceived threat has come from cultural imperialism, most apparent, Beijing claims, when the West criticises China for its poor record on democracy and human rights. This has led to the evolution of a distinctively Chinese model of democracy and rights that differs significantly from that deriving from the West.
How do memory and remembrance relate to the specific mode of transitional justice that lays emphasis on restoration? What is captured and what is obliterated in individual and collective efforts to come to terms with a violent past? Across this volume consisting of twelve in-depth contributions, the politics of memory in various countries are related to restorative justice under four headings: restoring trust, restoring truth, restoring land and restoring law. While the primary focus is a philosophical one, authors also engage in incisive analyses of historical, political and/or legal developments in their chosen countries. Examples of these include South Africa, Colombia, Rwanda, Israel and the land of Palestine, which they know all too well on a personal basis and from daily experience.
Water Law and Cooperation in the Euphrates-Tigris Region: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approach builds on the increased attention for international water governance questions in the UN International Year of Water Cooperation (2013) to evaluate various management issues related to the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, with particular attention to the legal governing framework. Alongside contributions by legal scholars from the respective riparian countries on the national water law, the book offers a unique interdisciplinary perspective on political, hydrological and environmental aspects of water management in the region. Additionally, the overall legal implications of water sharing and water resource management are addressed analyzed, in a critical overview. Finally, Water Law in the Euphrates-Tigris Region: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approach serves as a comprehensive analysis of modern water law in its inclusion of comparative studies of legal and institutional aspects of water management systems in other international river basins. Legal scholars, political scientists, specialists in conflict resolution, economists and policy-makers will find an essential new work in Water Law in the Euphrates-Tigris Region: A Comparative and Interdisciplinary Approach.
Human Rights and the Third World: Issues and Discourses deals with the controversial questions on the universalistic notions of human rights. It finds Third World perspectives on human rights and seeks to open up a discursive space in the human rights discourse to address unresolved questions, citing issues and problems from different countries in the Third World: 1. Whether alternative perspectives should be taken as the standard for human rights in the Third World countries? 2. Should there be a universalistic notion of rights for Homo sapiens or are we talking about two diametrically opposite trends and standards of human rights for the same species? 3. How far these Third World perspectives of human rights can ensure the protection of the minorities and the vulnerable sections of population, particularly the women and children within the Third World? 4. Can these alternative perspectives help in fighting the Third World problems like poverty, hunger, corruption, despotism, social exclusion like the caste system in India, communalism, and the like? 5. Can there be reconciliation between the Third World perspectives and the Western perspective of human rights?
Based on country reports and practical input from researchers and
activists in the field, this book is an up-to-date account of the
issues surrounding women's reproductive rights across Europe. The
contributions provide astute theoretical analysis of existing
problems and suggest innovative alternatives. The book brings
together authors from academia, policy-making and international
institutions to ensure comprehensive representation and thorough
commentary of the issues.
The WROCLAW COMMENTARIES address legal questions as well as political consequences related to freedom of, and access to, the arts and (old/new) media; questions of religious and language rights; the protection of minorities and other vulnerable groups; safeguarding cultural diversity and heritage; and further pertinent issues. Specialists from all over Europe and the world summarise and comment on core messages of legal instruments, the essence of case-law as well as prevailing and important dissenting opinions in the literature, with the aim of providing a user-friendly tool for the daily needs of decision or law-makers at different juridical, administrative and political levels as well as others working in the field of culture and human rights.
Since World War II, remarkable progress has been made toward establishing more effective international laws and organizations to reduce opportunities for confrontation and conflict, and to enhance the pursuit of security and well-being. This book offers a detailed record of that progress, as well as its meaning for our times and those ahead. Taking a historical, theoretical, and case-study approach, John Gibson provides the reader with a broad understanding of how international organizations evolved to serve the interests of their member states, how the constitutional charters of organizations provide a coherent statement of goals and means to goals, and how these organizations are assuming increasing authority in the international system. The work traces the progression of international constitutional and human rights law, with an emphasis on the past 45 years. In the first part, Gibson discusses the historic processes of political relations and mutual reliance; the evolution of these patterns through World War II; the subsequent history of the United Nations; the prime goals of international constitutional law; and the organizations' range of authority--from the high state to the supra-organization level. Part two offers a case study of the progression of international human rights law. Separate chapters trace the history of human rights in religion and philosophy and the role of the state in international law, while the concluding chapter on the United Nations Commission on Human Rights demonstrates how organizations actually function. This book will be a valuable resource for courses in international relations and international law, as well as an important addition to academic and professional libraries.
The doctrine of universal jurisdiction has evolved throughout modern times in the context of global criminal justice as a paramount agent of combating impunity emanating from international criminality. Sierra Leone, as a member of the international community and the United Nations, has, in recent times, been a pioneer in the progressive application and development of international criminal law in the African region. Despite this role, the country's profile, both in terms of the incorporation and application of the doctrine of universal jurisdiction, is deficient in several major respects falling far short of its dual international obligation not to provide safe havens from justice for perpetrators of international crimes and to combat impunity from such criminogenic acts. Hence, a compelling reason for the author to write this book was to provide a seminal scholarly work on the subject articulating the existing state of the law in Sierra Leone and highlighting the deficiencies in the law and factors inhibiting the exercise of universal jurisdiction in this UN member state. It was also to propose necessary substantive and procedural law reforms in the state's jurisprudence on the subject. The book is recommended reading for practitioners and scholars in international criminal law and related disciplines. Its accessibility is highly enhanced by relevant tables and summaries of each chapter. Justice Rosolu J.B. Thompson is Professor Emeritus of Criminal Justice Studies, Eastern Kentucky University, USA. He was a member of and Presiding Judge in Trial Chamber I of the Special Court for Sierra Leone.
This timely and innovative book delivers a comprehensive analysis of the non-recognition of the right to a family life of migrant live-in domestic and care workers in Argentina, Canada, Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Norway, the Philippines, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America, and Ukraine.
Hazlehurst explores the political importance of ethnicity for a minority indigenous population, the Maori of New Zealand. Drawing on close ethnographical observation and extensive interviews with key participants, Kayleen Hazlehurst provides a comprehensive narrative and analysis of the creation of the Mana Motuhake party and its formative electoral experiences. Hazlehurst places the emergence of the party in the early 1980s in the context of historical patterns of resistance and cooperation with the European majority. Modern political networks, leadership styles, mobilization strategies, ideologies, political rhetoric and symbology are examined. The study provides an overview of the contested nature of Maori ethnicity and of conflicting modern and traditional loyalties.
This volume deals with the basic human rights of aliens from the perspective of international and comparative law. It examines the rules regarding treatment of aliens and the extent to which these rules have been adopted in the domestic legislation of more than 40 different states. It aims to achieve two basic goals: 1) to define the status of aliens under international law, that is, which rights are granted to every person by international instruments; and 2) to establish whether this set of rules has been adopted by the domestic legislation of the states under review. The author classifies the basic human rights of aliens into seven different categories, namely: 1) fundamental rights; 2) private rights; 3) social and cultural rights; 4) economic rights; 5) political rights; 6) public rights; and 7) procedural rights. For each of these categories she reviews opinions of international legal commentators, decisions of international and regional tribunals, as well as national legislation, domestic court decisions, and opinions of local authorities.
This book offers the first comprehensive and in-depth analysis of the provisions of the 'Malabo Protocol'-the amendment protocol to the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples' Rights-adopted by the African Union at its 2014 Summit in Malabo, Equatorial Guinea. The Annex to the protocol, once it has received the required number of ratifications, will create a new Section in the African Court of Justice and Human and Peoples' Rights with jurisdiction over international and transnational crimes, hence an 'African Criminal Court'. In this book, leading experts in the field of international criminal law analyze the main provisions of the Annex to the Malabo Protocol. The book provides an essential and topical source of information for scholars, practitioners and students in the field of international criminal law, and for all readers with an interest in political science and African studies. Gerhard Werle is Professor of German and Internationa l Crimina l Law, Criminal Procedure and Modern Legal History at Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin and Director of the South African-German Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice. In addition, he is an Extraordinary Professor at the University of the Western Cape and Honorary Professor at North-West University of Political Science and Law (Xi'an, China). Moritz Vormbaum received his doctoral degree in criminal law from the University of Munster (Germany) and his postdoctoral degree from Humboldt-Universitat zu Berlin. He is a Senior Researcher at Humboldt-Universitat, as well as a coordinator and lecturer at the South African-German Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice.
One of the hallmarks of the present era is the discourse surrounding Human Rights and the need for the law to recognise them. Various national and supranational human rights instruments have been developed and implemented in order to transition society away from atrocity and callousness toward a more just and inclusive future. In some countries this is done by means of an overarching constitution, while in others international conventions or ordinary legislation hold sway. Contract law plays a pivotal role in this context. According to many, this is done through the much-debated 'civilising mission' of the contract, a notion which itself constitutes the canon of the Western liberal principle of 'civilised economy'. The movement away from the belief in the absolute freedom of contract, which reached its zenith in the nineteenth century, to the principles of fairness and justice that underpin contract law today, is often deemed to be a testament to this civilising influence. Delving into the interplay between human rights policies, constitutional law, and contract law from both theoretical and practical perspectives, this first volume of a two-book collection offers a totally new reappraisal of the subject by gathering a collection of essays written by contract law scholars from Europe, South Africa, Canada, and Australia. Instead of providing the reader with a sterile compilation of positivistic norms and policies on the impact of fundamental rights and constitutional law issues on contract law's development, the authors build on their personal experience to analyse specific topics related to contracting that include a constitutional dimension. The book fills an important void in comparative law scholarship and in so doing represents the starting point for further debate on the subject.
A timely, original study of the emergence of a new type of thinking about children and their rights in contemporary urban China, which draws on diverse evidence from Chinese government, academic, media, and pedagogic publications, as well as on participant observation and interviews in two primary schools and among elite and middle class families in Shanghai, China. Drawing on rich, ethnographic data, this book debunks many popular and scholarly stereotypes about the predominance of Confucian ideas of parental authority in China or about the indifference to individual human rights in the political and public culture of the PRC. This book also recognizes the complexities and conflicts that exist in Chinese discourses about and practices toward children, as older ideas of filiality, neoliberal ideologies, and the new awareness of children's right to privacy, to expressing their views, and to protection against violence compete and collude in complicated, often contradictory ways.
This book describes how international development works, its shortcomings, its theoretical and practical foundations, along with prescriptions for the future. International Development Law provides the reader with new perspectives on the origins of global poverty, identifies legal impediments to sustainable economic growth, and provides a better understanding of the challenges faced by the international community in resolving global poverty issues. The text is structured into two basic parts: the first part deals with the theoretical and philosophic foundations of the subject, and the second part sets forth issues relating to the international financial architecture, namely, international borrowing practices, privatization, and emerging economies. In particular, the book provides new, innovative analysis on corruption as an impediment to sustainable development. The three interlocking facets of corruption are examined: transnational organized crime, Islamic-based international terrorism, and corruption within emerging economies and the international banking system. Thus fresh new analysis adds depth and clarity to a field that heretofore has been scattered and superficial. Finally, the "right to development" within the international human rights discourse is critically reviewed, particularly in light of new jurisprudence emerging from the African context.This book offers a fresh, new and balanced legal perspective on the development process. The text has been rigorously researched and has many practical facets based on the author's professional experience within the international development field. It is an invaluable research and teaching tool since it takes a multidisciplinary approach to putting complex issues, legal trends and political questions into a clear, new perspective that is highly analytical as well as accessible to the reader. The author's elegant legal prose is both powerful and persuasive.
Personal narratives have become one of the most potent vehicles for advancing human rights claims across the world. These two contemporary domains, personal narrative and human rights, literature and international politics, are commonly understood to operate on separate planes. This study however, examines the ways these intersecting realms unfold and are enfolded in one another in ways both productive of and problematic for the achievement of social justice. Human Rights and Narrated Lives explores what happens when autobiographical narratives are produced, received, and circulated in the field of human rights. It asks how personal narratives emerge in local settings; how international rights discourse enables and constrains individual and collective subjectivities in narration; how personal narratives circulate and take on new meanings in new contexts; and how and under what conditions they feed into, affect, and are affected by the reorganizations of politics in the post cold war, postcolonial, globalizing human rights contexts. To explore these intersections, the authors attend the production, circulation, reception, and affective currents of stories in action across local, national, transnational, and global arenas. They do so by looking at five case studies: in the context of the Truth and Reconciliation processes in South Africa; the National Inquiry into the Forced Removal of Indigenous Children from their Families in Australia; activism on behalf of former 'comfort women' from South/East Asia; U.S. prison activism; and democratic reforms in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square Massacre in China.
Since the 1970s, the international community of states has demonstrated increasing willingness to invest UN institutions with politico-ethical authority to act on its behalf in addressing human rights abuses. Through trial and error, some of these institutions have had a degree of success in securing better practical observance of international human rights standards. Flood examines the reasons why some structural approaches have had more impact than others. He argues that states must make policy choices in an environment where many political actors operate simultaneously and where several state interests are in play simultaneously. This situation creates the political space in which community structures can operate to influence behavior. Because states require the active or tacit cooperation of other states to promote their interests, they seek to avoid prolonged political isolation. Thus, the most effective UN human rights institutions are those linked in meaningful ways with Charter-based human rights mechanisms. These mechanisms--thematic and country-specific--have different structural advantages, and their concrete effectiveness depends on the specific circumstances of the particular case they are asked to address. There is evidence that they have greater impact when employed simultaneously, as well as when key states support their efforts bilaterally. Through case studies, Flood analyzes the work of the thematic mechanisms on disappearances and religious discrimination and the country-specific mechanisms used with Chile and Iran. He concludes that Charter-based UN human rights institutions have become an enduring part of the international environment and that their activities havestrengthened the concept and practice of state accountability to the international community for human rights conduct. |
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