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31. Can There Be a "Kindered" Peace?

Author:
Alison M. S. Watson
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
There are more resources now devoted to the pursuit of peace than at any time in the history of the international system. The participating cast of actors—international, regional, state, and nonstate—seek to create a peace that is essentially Kantian in spirit, and thus heavily dependent upon the maintenance of an international liberal order through international governmental organizations, such as the United Nations. The resultant peace-building strategies are then often justified in terms of the promotion of human rights, democratization, and ''human security''—concepts that together form the cornerstone of what has come to be termed the ''liberal peace.'' Evidence increasingly suggests, however, that the mechanisms used to achieve such a peace typically fail to secure a sustainable peace, and in particular that they may not adequately take into account those actors whose claims for peace may prove especially intransigent—such as those with ethnic and identity claims, and those, ironically, for whom the achievement of human security is particularly pertinent.
Topic:
Democratization, Government, Human Rights, and United Nations

32. Inventing Human Rights: A History

Author:
Bronwyn Leebaw
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
In the second half of the eighteenth century, epistolary novels became popular in France and England, people began listening to the opera in silence rather than walking around to converse with friends, and efforts were made to prevent theater-goers in Paris from disrupting performances by coordinating their coughing and farting. For Lynn Hunt, these changes in the daily lives of Europeans are intrinsically related to the development of universal human rights. In this rich and beautifully written work, Hunt argues that human rights rely upon our ability to empathize with strangers. The changing habits and experiences of late-eighteenth-century Europe fostered new understandings of individuality and empathy, which would support the expansion of rights.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
Europe, Paris, France, and England

33. Development as a Human Right: Legal, Political, and Economic Dimensions

Author:
Sakiko Fukuda-Parr
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
In the foreword to this volume, a Nobel Symposium Book from the Harvard School of Public Health, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour writes: There is growing support for the idea that global poverty is an affront to human rights, and that the realization of human rights for a life of freedom and dignity is inescapably a central purpose of development. Yet the right to development remains a politically divisive issue. The concept has its roots in the political economy of the 1970 s and 1980 s, when developing countries mobilized for a New International Economic Order in which countries of the North would actively facilitate growth and development in the South through aid, trade, and investment. While the right to development is still championed by developing countries and resisted by donor countries, it (and the broader concept of a human rights-based approach to development) is also controversial among theorists and practitioners in both the human rights and the development fields. Some human rights legal scholars challenge its usefulness, arguing that it brings together rights that already exist. In the development community, little attention has been paid to the right to development per se, and economists who dominate the mainstream of development theory and practice are somewhat puzzled by the idea that human rights in general should be a concern in development at all. They often question the relevance of human rights discourse on development and see it as idealistic and utopian, since it insists on the equal value of all rights. Given that economic policymaking is about setting priorities and considering trade-offs, ''rights talk'' seems to be an obstacle rather than an aid to the task of formulating policies and strategies.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Human Rights, and United Nations

34. Briefly Noted

Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
This section contains a round-up of recent notable books in the field of international affairs.
Topic:
Development and Human Rights
Political Geography:
California

35. Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right: Who Owes What to the Very Poor?

Author:
James P. Sterba
Publication Date:
07-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Freedom from Poverty as a Human Right is a very impressive volume. All the contributors share the view that freedom from poverty is a basic human right, but they differ in how best to argue in its support. In general, there are two ways: One is to ground the right in a negative right of noninterference. On this view, poverty is the result of interference with the poor, and the cessation of that interference would put an end to poverty. Thomas Pogge adopts just such a view in the first essay of the volume. The other way is to ground the right in a positive right; that is, a right to receive from others the basic resources that one needs for a decent human life. Tom Camp-bell defends this view, while other contributors, such as Elizabeth Ashford, find both approaches to be equally useful.
Topic:
Human Rights

36. Business and Human Rights in Conflict

Author:
Olga Martin-Ortega
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
With respect to the social role of business, companies were traditionally held to be responsible only to their shareholders. Their duty was to generate profit while complying with the laws of the countries in which they operate. A given company may contribute to the well-being of individuals or groups, or even prevent harm, but such deeds were generally interpreted as acts of charity. Under the maxim that a good business minimizes costs and maximizes profits, inevitably businesses have been portrayed as being "in conflict" with human rights. The challenge of how to balance the pursuit of profit and the protection of human rights is particularly formidable in the context of wars and other armed conflicts. Over the last couple of decades the question of the responsibilities of businesses operating in conflict environments has risen to greater prominence, both in academic and policy circles and in the wider public discussion. On the one hand, the political economy of internal armed conflicts has become central to analyses of the causes of conflict and to the design of prevention and resolution policies. On the other, the impact of business activities and working methods on human rights has become a new focus of widespread discussion—not only within companies, but also within and among NGOs, states, and international bodies—following a series of highly publicized campaigns and lawsuits against companies, such as Unocal and Freeport McMoRan. These two developments have encouraged a broad examination of the ways in which businesses can aggravate or even perpetuate armed conflict and thereby contribute to human suffering, as well as of what businesses might do to contribute to conflict resolution and thus of mitigate that suffering. Can current policy and legal responses make businesses part of the solution rather than part of the problem? And can companies be held accountable—socially, legally, or by some other means—for whatever negative actions they might have taken in situations of armed conflict? whatever negative actions they might have taken in situations of armed conflict?
Topic:
Human Rights

37. Taking on the World's Repressive Regimes: The Ford Foundation's International Human Rights Policies and Practices

Author:
Joel L. Fleishman
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
With Taking on the World's Repressive Regimes, William Korey has done a great service for both those who champion and follow the realization of human rights internationally and those who wish to understand the potential and limitations of foundation strategies to bring about real change. And ''real change'' is certainly what characterizes the narrative of this slim volume, which covers the significant realization of human rights from about 1967 to the present day.
Topic:
Human Rights

38. The Human Rights Council: A New Era in UN Human Rights Work?

Author:
Yvonne Terlingen
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Kofi Annan did more than any UN Secretary-General before him to stress the close link between human rights and peace and security. In his inaugural address to the newly created Human Rights Council in Geneva on June 19, 2006, he said: ''. . . lack of respect for human rights and dignity is the fundamental reason why the peace of the world today is so precarious, and why prosperity is so unequally shared.'' With the creation of the Human Rights Council, ''a new era in the human rights work of the United Nations has been proclaimed.''
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Geneva

39. Book Review: Globalizing Democracy and Human Rights by Carol C. Gould

Author:
Fiona Robinson
Publication Date:
06-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
Carol Gould's Globalizing Democracy and Human Rights is an impressive, sweeping analysis of some of the most pressing questions in contemporary political philosophy and international ethics. While the book's focus is practical—how to "globalize" democracy, and how to make globalization more democratic—Gould does not shy away from hard theoretical questions, such as the relentless debate over cultural relativism, as well as less-often tackled issues of "embodied politics" and women's rights, and the relationship between terrorism and democracy. The result is a book that is almost overwhelming in scope, yet is saved by a rich, balanced, convincing, and unhectoring analysis.
Topic:
Human Rights and Terrorism

40. Trade Rules, Intellectual Property, and the Right to Health

Author:
Lisa Forman
Publication Date:
09-2007
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
In perpetuating and exacerbating restricted access to essential medicines, current trade-related intellectual property rules on medicines may violate core human rights to health and medicines. In this light, there should be serious questions about their necessity, and their justification should be critically assessed from the perspective of human rights standards.
Topic:
Human Rights