This book focuses on decision-making by non-state justice institutions at the interface of traditional, religious, and state laws. The authors discuss the implications of non-state justice for the rule of law, presenting case studies on traditional councils and courts in Pakistan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Bolivia and South Africa.

This book develops a philosophical conception of human rights that responds satisfactorily to the challenges raised by cultural and political critics of human rights, who contend that the contemporary human rights movement is promoting an imperialist ideology, and that the humanitarian intervention for protecting human rights is a neo-colonialism. These claims affect the normativity and effectiveness of human rights; that is why they have to be taken seriously. At the same time, the same philosophical account dismisses the imperialist crusaders who support the imperialistic use of human rights by the West to advance liberal culture. Thus, after elaborating and exposing these criticisms, the book confronts them to the human rights theories of John Rawls and Jurgen Habermas, in order to see whether they can be addressed. Unfortunately, they are not. Therefore, having shown that these two philosophical accounts of human rights do not respond convincingly to those the postco lonial challenges, the book provides an alternative conception that draws the understanding of human rights from local practices. It is a multilayer conception which is not centered on state, but rather integrates it in a larger web of actors involved in shaping the practice and meaning of human rights. Confronted to the challenges, this new conception offers a promising way for addressing them satisfactorily, and it even sheds new light to the classical questions of universality of human rights, as well as the tension between universalism and relativism.

What lessons can we learn from history, and more importantly: how? This question is as commonplace as it is essential. Efficient transitional justice policy evaluation requires, inter alia, an historical dimension. What policy has or has not worked in the past is an obvious key question. Nevertheless, history as a profession remains somewhat absent in the multi-disciplinary field of transitional justice. The idea that we should learn lessons from history continues to create unease among most professional historians. In his critical introduction, the editor investigates the framework of this unease. At the core of this book are nine national European case studies (post 1945, the 1970s dictatorships, post 1989) which implement the true scholarly advantage of historical research for the field of transitional justice: the broad temporal space. All nine case studies tackle the longer-term impact of their country's transitional justice policies. Two comparative conclusions, amongst others by the internationally renowned transitional justice specialist Luc Huyse, complete this collection. This volume is a major contribution in the search for synergies between the agenda of historical research and the rapidly developing field of transitional justice.

Childhoods at the Intersection of the Local and the Global examines the imposition of the modern Western notion of childhood, which is now deemed as universal, on other cultures and explores how local communities react to these impositions in various ways such as manipulation, outright rejection and acceptance. The book discusses childhoods in different regions of the world and boasts a range of contributors from several academic disciplines such as Sociology, Social Work, Education, Anthropology, Criminology and Human Rights, who are experts on the regions they discuss. The book argues against the notion of a universal childhood and illustrates that different societies around the world have different notions of childhood. This book is recommended reading for students, scholars and practitioners working with children in the Global South as well as internationally.

Written by the leading political expert on Suriname, this thrilling tale describes ethnically inspired guerilla warfare, terrible human rights violations, military coups, painful redemocratization processes, and economic implosion. Although part of the American family of nations in the Western Hemisphere, there is almost nothing written about Suriname as a modern country. There are some ethnographies, some histories of ex-slave rebellions, and passing references to the atrocities of colonial plantation systems. After that, the dark clouds of obscurity close over a fascinating if beleaguered close American cousin, one whose history as an independent nation has much to say to the strife-ridden trouble spots of the 1990s--Bosnia, Sri Lanka, Liberia, and Nicaragua.

Are the global trends toward democratization and neoliberal economic development also providing enhanced protection for human rights? In this edited collection of theoretical essays and case studies, the contributors assess the often glaring contradiction between democratization trends in developing countries in the face of continuing human rights violations. The volume begins by asking whether we need to rethink our conceptualizations of democracy, human rights, and development, and particularly the causal relationships between these areas. An analysis of the changing nature of the international norms associated with these concepts illustrates some of the inherent contradictions. Next, an assessment of the status of women in the new democracies demonstrates the fallacy of assuming that all citizens progress equally, and underscores the necessity for including gender considerations and needs. Case studies based in Latin America and Africa examine further the relationships between democracy and human rights, with particular emphasis on the issue of consolidation in the future. The contributors conclude that democracy and development will only be sustainable with the active participation of civil society, especially nongovernmental groups. This collection will be important for students, scholars, and policy makers involved with issues of human rights and democratization in developing countries.

There are millions of children experiencing parental imprisonment all over the world. This book is about their problems, human rights and how they are treated throughout the justice process from the arrest of a parent to imprisonment and release.

Children's Rights explores the relevance of children's participatory rights in education, particularly at a time when there are competing demands in meeting the rigid curriculum frameworks whilst taking into account children's entitlement to participate in matters affecting their lives. It engages with theoretical and practical models of participation with an aim to support reflective practice. The chapters are informed by wider academic debates and examples from research and everyday practice in early year settings, making it an accessible read for students, practitioners as well as researchers.

Draws together contributions from leading figures in the field of surveillance to engage in the discussion of the emergence of accountability as a means to manage threats to privacy. The first of its kind to enrich the debate about accountability and privacy by drawing together perspectives from experienced privacy researchers and policy makers.

Critical Perspectives on Human Rights provides cutting-edge interventions into contemporary perspectives on rights, ethics and global justice. The chapters, written by leading scholars in the field, make a significant and timely contribution to critical human rights scholarship by interrogating the significance of human rights for critical theory and practice. While the contributions engage sensitively yet thoroughly with the regulatory, disciplinary, and exclusionary effects of human rights, they do so without giving up on the transformative potential of human rights. By thinking productively through the exclusions, paradoxes and aporias of human rights, Critical Perspectives on Human Rights is a key reference text for students and scholars in this important area of inquiry.

CHOICE OUTSTANDING BOOK OF THE YEAR 2005 Recently, there has been a major shift in the focus of historical research on World War II towards the study of the involvements of scholars and academic institutions in the crimes of the Third Reich. The roots of this involvement go back to the 1920s. At that time right-wing scholars participated in the movement to revise the Versailles Treaty and to create a new German national identity. The contribution of geopolitics to this development is notorious. But there were also the disciplines of history, geography, ethnography, art history, archeology, sociology, and demography that devised a new nationalist ideology and propaganda. Its scholars established an extensive network of personal and institutional contacts. This volume deals with these scholars and their agendas. They provided the Nazi regime with ideas of territorial expansion, colonial exploitation and racist exclusion culminating in the Holocaust. Apart from developing ideas and concepts, scholars also actively worked in the SS and Wehrmacht when Hitler began to implement its criminal policies in World War II. This collection of original essays, written by the foremost European scholars in this field, describes key figures and key programs supporting the expansion and exploitation of the Third Reich. In particular, they analyze the historical, geographic, ethnographical and ethno-political ideas behind the ethnic cleansing and looting of cultural treasures. Michael Fahlbusch lives in Switzerland. He studied Geography in Munster and Zurich. He has written on the history of science, ethnic cleansing and ethno-politics in 20th-century Europe. Ingo Haar is working as a Research Fellow in the Berlin Centre of Research on Anti-Semitism (Zentrum fur Antisemitismusforschung, Berlin). He was a member of the Austrian Historical Commission on History of National Socialism and has worked extensively on policies and ideology of the Third Reich.

Whether newly-freed slaves could be trusted to own firearms was in great dispute in 1866, and the ramifications of this issue reverberate in today's "gun-control" debate. This is the only comprehensive study ever published on the intent of the framers of the Fourteenth Amendment and of Reconstruction-era civil rights legislation to protect the right to keep and bear arms. Indeed, this is the most detailed study ever published about the intent of the Fourteenth Amendment to incorporate and to protect from state violation any of the rights guaranteed by the Bill of Rights, even including free speech. Paradoxically, the Second Amendment is virtually the only Bill of Rights guarantee not recognized by the federal courts as protected by the Fourteenth Amendment. Through legislative and historical records generated during the Reconstruction epoch (1866-1876), Halbrook shows the intent of the Fourteenth Amendment and of civil rights legislation to guarantee full and equal rights to blacks, including the right to keep and bear arms.

The Unidad Popular and the Pinochet Dictatorship covers the current political conflict facing the Chilean government of this century. The analysis of the Allende government examines the macroeconomic policies and structural reforms and its results; the questioning of property rights constituted a key issue of conflict. The analysis of the Pinochet government starts with a review of Chilean democracy breakdown. Then it examines the success, failure, and final success of economic structural reforms. The book ends with a discussion of the legacies of both governments. In the historical Chilean memory of the century, human rights violations will occupy a special place.

When, God willing, the abortion controversy is behind us, partisans of the pro-life and pro-choice positions are going to have to live together in this society. That is why, sloganeering and passionate polemics are inevitable, civil conversation is essential. And that is why "The Silent Subject" is such a gift to all of us at this point in the controversy. (From the foreword by Richard John Neuhaus) The essays in this work constitute a sensitive, public argument for a reconstruction of the confused--yet dominant--popular attitudes toward nascent human life and its value. Unlike most pro-life arguments, it offers no strictly religious or exclusively sectarian warrants for its assertions - instead bearing a more secular cast, speaking to a generalized and pluralistic audience. As a whole, "The Silent Subject" embraces no specific, particular political ideology. Its contributors have a broad spectrum of professional interests, political perspectives and social philosophies - all of which indicates the fundamentally humanistic and apolitical nature of concern for the unborn and the degree to which they are esteemed. This unusual book is a refreshingly candid and morally compelling analysis of the social forces that superintend our cultural outlook toward unborn human life.

This volume is a group of essays published in memory of David Thomasma, one of the leading humanists in the field of bioethics during the twentieth century. A pioneer in the field of multidisciplinary research, having integrated major theological and philosophical traditions in the west with modern science, Thomasma was a role model to the authors who have devoted essays to his major avenues of inquiry. The authors represent many different countries and disciplines throughout the globe. The volume deals with the pressing issue of how to ground a universal bioethics in the context of the conflicted world of combative cultures and perspectives.

Human rights in relation to sexual orientation and gender identity are at last reaching the heart of global debates. Yet 78 states worldwide continue to criminalise same-sex sexual behaviour, and due to the legal legacies of the British Empire, 42 of these - more than half - are in The Commonwealth of Nations. In recent years many states have seen the emergence of new sexual nationalisms, leading to increased enforcement of colonial sodomy laws against men, new criminalisations of sex between women and discrimination against transgender people. Human Rights, Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity in the Commonwealth: Struggles for Decriminalisation and Change challenges these developments as the first book to focus on experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) and all non-heterosexual people in the Commonwealth. The volume offers the most internationally extensive analysis to date of the global struggle for decriminalisation of same-sex sexual behaviour and relationships.

Adopting a people-centred perspective to globalization, the authors explore complex, counterintuitive and even unintended forms and consequences of bottom-up politics, going beyond simplistic understandings of ordinary people as either victims or beneficiaries of globalization.

Two conventional wisdoms dominate debates about why women's rights advance in some places but not others. While culture and religion are understood to be the primary barriers to gender equality, efforts by international institutions and women's groups to change social norms are often seen as the most effective way to reduce discrimination. This book introduces a third, often overlooked explanation - the core rights framework - to account for how, where, and why women's rights advance. It argues that female labor force participation and education serve as building blocks, or core rights, for the advancement of other women's rights. Cultivating core rights is believed to spur group consciousness, ease collective action problems, and render women in a politically relevant group, thereby increasing the prospects that women's rights are represented in the polity. In examining the advancement of women's rights across four major areas - political, nationality, reproductive, and property rights - this book shows that the conventional wisdom about the role of international norms and culture is usually overstated and often incomplete. It also presents systematic evidence evaluating the effectiveness of different prescriptions for improving women's lives across a broad range of rights.

In order to be able to protect human rights, it is first necessary to see the denial of those rights. Aside from experiencing human rights violations directly, either as a victim or as an eyewitness, more than any other medium film is able to bring us closer to this aspect of the human experience. Yet, notwithstanding its importance to human rights, film has received virtually no scholarly attention and thus one of the primary goals of this book is to begin to fill this gap. From an historical perspective, human rights were not at all self-evident by reason alone, but had to gain standing through an appeal to human emotions found in novels as well as in works of moral philosophy and legal theory. Although literature continues to play an important role in the human rights project, film is able to take us that much further, by universalizing the particular experience of others different from ourselves, the viewers. "Watching Human Rights" analyzes more than 100 of the finest human rights films ever made documentaries, feature films, faux documentaries, animations, and even cartoons. It will introduce the reader to a wealth of films that might otherwise remain unknown, but it also shows the human rights themes in films that all of us are familiar with.Features of the text: "

For the Sake of Humanity is a collection of essays in honour of Clemens N. Nathan, a man occupying a remarkable position in the public life of the United Kingdom. Over a period of several decades, he has stimulated and facilitated discussion, research and study on a striking array of topics, including international organisations, Human Rights, interfaith relations and the Holocaust and German-Jewish history - as well as in his own area of professional expertise: textile science and technology. His approach has been characterised by academic rigour, social concern and a commitment to historical truth, along with an adventurous and innovative spirit. All these qualities are also to be found in this collection of essays by his friends and admirers, to produce a truly fascinating book, with new insights into many topics, and a number of chapters destined to become classics in their fields. Above all, it is an erudite and charming volume, full of surprises!

Since after the Second World War, the crime of aggression is - along with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes - a "core crime" under international law. However, despite a formal recognition of aggression as a matter of international criminal law and the reinforcement of the international legal regulation of the use of force by States, numerous international armed conflicts occurred but no one was ever prosecuted for aggression since 1949. This book comprehensively analyses the historical development of the criminalisation of aggression, scrutinises in a detailed manner the relevant jurisprudence of the Nuremberg and Tokyo Tribunals as well as of the Nuremberg follow-up trials, and makes proposals for a more successful prosecution for aggression in the future. In identifying customary international law on the subject, the volume draws upon a wealth of applicable sources of national criminal law and puts forward a useful classification of States legislative approaches towards the criminalisation of aggression at the national level. It also offers a detailed analysis of the current international legal regulation of the use of force and of the Rome Statutes substantive and procedural provisions pertaining to the exercise of the International Criminal Courts jurisdiction with respect to the crime of aggression, after 1 January 2017."

The countries of the global north and west that have enjoyed hegemonic preponderance in international affairs over the last two centuries are seeing their relative influence on the world stage decline in favour of rising powers of other regions. As the ability of the global north and west to project normative standards with regards to social organisation, international relations and the role of the state is waning, what emerging norms might guide future trajectories for global society? As human rights is a highly politicised and contentious area of discourse and practice, what future might there be for human rights in a non-western world? The London Debates 2011 workshop sought to bring together established academics and early career researchers from a variety of disciplines to reflect upon possible futures for world order and the implications for human rights. In this edited volume, nuanced analysis covers the ongoing debate on the universality of human rights, the outlook for human rights in an Islamic context, the role of civil society in the future of human rights, and human rights in China. The London Debates are a series of discussion workshops convened by the School of Advanced Study that bring together outstanding early career researchers to consider a subject of broad concern within the humanities and social sciences. The workshops are attended by a small group of invited senior academics and early-career researchers - in their final year of doctoral study or up to ten years beyond the award of their doctorate - selected by an international open competition. The Debates include lectures, plenary seminars and small-group discussions. The School of Advanced Study at the University of London is the UK's national centre for the facilitation and promotion of research in the humanities and social sciences. The School brings together the specialised scholarship and resources of ten prestigious research institutes to offer academic opportunities, facilities and stimulation across a wide range of subjects for the benefit of the national and international scholarly community.

This book traces the story of the civil rights movement through the written and spoken words of those who participated in it. It includes both classic texts, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech and his "Letter from Birmingham Jail," and lesser-known gems, such as Robert Moses' "Letter from a Mississippi Jail Cell" and James Lawson's address to SNCC's 1960 founding meeting. The volume emphasizes the role that ordinary people played in the struggle for freedom and equality and also displays the breadth of the civil rights movement. It contains documents written by members of all the well-known civil rights organizations, such as SCLC, NAACP, SNCC, CORE, and the Black Panther Party, as well as pieces written by independent and relatively unknown figures, such as Jo Ann Gibson Robinson and Sheyann Webb. In addition, it includes documents demonstrating the ferocity of white resistance to black equality, such as George Wallace's 1963 Inaugural Address. This is a documentary collection that has been needed for a long time. The burgeoning interest in the civil rights movement argues for such a work, and the need to have the experience of the movement in the participants' own words demands it. . . . Levy's collection . . . is the best and most accessible. "Randall M. Miller Director of American Studies Saint Joseph's University

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Drawing on research by recent scholars, the volume emphasizes the role that ordinary people played in the struggle for freedom and equality and also displays the breadth of the civil rights movement. It contains documents written by members of all the well-known civil rights organizations: SCLC, NAACP, SNCC, CORE, and the Black Panther Party. It includes pieces written by independent and relatively unknown figures, such as Jo Ann Gibson Robinson and Sheyann Webb. In addition, it includes documents demonstrating the ferocity of white resistance to black equality, such as George Wallace's 1963 Inaugural Address. The book fills a void, providing a balanced single-volume reader on the civil rights movement. It will be valuable to all those interested in Afro-American history, race relations, the 1960s, and recent United States history.