Suchergebnisse

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- List of Acronyms -- 1 Human Rights and Globalization -- 2 Globalization, Poverty, and Inequality -- 3 Global Neoliberalism -- 4 A Positive Model -- 5 Negative Models -- 6 Global Human Rights Governance -- 7 Civil Society -- 8 The Politics of Resentment -- 9 The Primacy of Politics -- References -- Index

Should African and Muslim-majority countries be obliged to protect LGBT rights or do such rights violate their cultures? Should Western-based corporations be held liable if their security guards injure union activists in another part of the world, or should such decisions be settled under local or domestic law? In this passionately argued book renowned human rights scholar Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann vigorously defends the universality of human rights, arguing that the entire range of rights is necessary for all individuals everywhere regardless of sex, colour, ethnicity, sexuality or religion. Above all, she defends civil and political rights, such as the rights not to be tortured and the rights to vote, which are often so taken for granted as to be entirely neglected. Howard-Hassmann grounds her defense of universality in her conception of human dignity, which she maintains must include personal autonomy, equality, respect, recognition, and material security. Only social democracies, she contends, can be considered fully rights-protective states. Other political systems, including communism, or minimally liberal or libertarian states, are not rights-protective. Taking issue with scholars who argue that human rights are "Western," quasi-imperialist impositions on states in the global South, and risk undermining community and social obligation, Howard-Hassmann explains how human rights support communities and can only be preserved if states and individuals observe their duties to protect them.

Some states deny their own citizens one of the most fundamental human rights: the right to food. Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, a leading scholar of human rights, discusses state food crimes, demonstrating how governments have introduced policies that cause malnutrition or starvation among their citizens and others for whom they are responsible. The book introduces the right to food and discusses historical cases (communist famines in Ukraine, China and Cambodia, and neglect of starvation by democratic states in Ireland, Germany and Canada). It then moves to a detailed discussion of four contemporary cases: starvation in North Korea, and malnutrition in Zimbabwe, Venezuela, and the West Bank and Gaza. These cases are then used to analyse international human rights law, sanctions and food aid, and civil and political rights as they pertain to the right to food. The book concludes by considering the need for a new international treaty on the right to food

Do Canadians, as a group, possess a strong ethical code when thinking about human rights issues? They do, according to Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann who has analyzed the responses of 78 civic leaders from Hamilton, Ontario whom she interviewed over several months in 1996 and 1997. Their responses to questions about hate speech, hate crimes, gay and lesbian rights, multiculturalism, employment equity, aboriginal rights, the rights of the poor, and an individual's obligation to 'strangers' ? defined as immigrants, refugees, and people living outside Canada's borders ? revealed deep and complex reasoning about ethical concerns, and exhibited a strong unified sense of what it means to be Canadian.The civic leaders interviewed represented many diverse groups: members of gay and lesbian groups, feminist organizations, aboriginal groups, and leaders of service organizations, private clubs, and patriotic organizations. Slightly more than half were women, and slightly fewer than half were immigrants to Canada.In their responses, these individuals stressed the importance of both belonging to and having obligations to the Canadian community. They highlighted the values of equality, non-discrimination, and multiculturalism, as well as the need to respect everyone living in Canada. For them, there were no absolute individual rights: all rights must be balanced with concern for vulnerable groups in Canada.Understanding the moral reasoning of these civic leaders helps to illuminate the moral consensus among ordinary Canadian citizens around the formal human rights laws that govern Canada. It also illustrates the sort of human rights policies that Canadians are likely to support

Cover -- Half Title -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Human Rights and the Search for Community -- Human Rights as Individual Rights -- Social Construction of Human Rights -- Moral Prerequisites for a Life of Dignity -- Searching for Human Rights and Community -- Notes -- 2 Liberal Society -- The Central Park Thesis -- The Social Evolution of Liberal Society -- The Individual as a Private Person -- The "End" of Community and the Creation of the Citizen -- Individualism and the Public Interest -- Notes -- 3 Cultural Absolutism and Nostalgia for Community -- Cultural Relativism as Cultural Absolutism -- The Concept of "Culture" in the Absolutist Viewpoint -- An Absolutist Defense of a White Canada -- Relativism, Primitivism, and Romanticism -- Cultural Absolutism and the Conservative Reaction -- Notes -- 4 Rights, Dignity, and Secular Society -- Rights and Dignity -- The African Critique of Individual Human Rights -- The "Muslim" Approach to Human Rights -- Community and Individualism -- Notes -- 5 The Modern Community -- Two Views of Society -- Modernity and Tradition -- The Modern Community -- Modern Community and the Extension of Human Rights -- Notes -- 6 Honor and Shame -- The Status Radical Critique -- Honor, Shame, and Degradation -- Shame and Self-Mutilation -- Social Terror -- Liberalism and Social Honor -- Notes -- 7 Social Exclusion -- Poverty and Social Exclusion -- Social Minimalism -- The Conservative Reaction -- Social Closure -- Notes -- 8 Individualism and Social Obligation -- Individualism and Social Obligation -- Social Democracy -- Continued Inequities in a Social Democracy: Canada -- New Communitarian Threats Against Liberalism -- The Necessity to Preserve Individual Rights -- Notes -- Bibliography -- About the Book and Author -- Index