Chapter 9: Human Rights

Human Rights
Switch in recent intl affairs from hard power to soft power
Hard Power (too limited, artificial, not majority)
o National Security
o Money
o Strength of countries and state govts
TO: Soft Power
o Human security
o Well-being of individual persons
o Includes: human rights, health, poverty, alleviation and development
Definition
All people have them
Vital claims to/entitlements to:
o *Objects of what we need for a minimally good life*
o All-purpose means of human action (What you want, no matter what you want)
E.g. CPA, CEO, rich, married, kids
Five Foundational Objects
Life/physical security
o Freedom from violence
Material subsistence
o Material necessities: money, clothing, shelter
Personal freedom
Equality/non-discrimination
o Thin brand of equality (non-discrimination)
o Some want a thick brand: deeper sharing of socioeconomic resources
Social recognition as a person
o Memberentitlements
o All start with a denial
Historical Development
Waves of Rights Development
Goes back to the Magna Carta
o 1215 made by King John
American and French Revolutions (1770s/1800s)
o American: life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
o French: equality, citizenship
Look at Table 9.1
Holocaust (1935-45)
*Birth of the modern human rights movement
Full Equality Denied
Full equality denied
1

Kicked out of jobs

Voting rights cut
Property Stolen
Rounded up w/ violence
Sent to labour camps on war effort
o Sent to dath camps
6 million died

3 Generations of Rights-claims
1st Generation (1215-1770s)
Civil & Political Rights (CPRs)
Life, property, freedom, political participaition, due process
Consensus
2nd generation
Post-Industrial Revolution (1750-1950)
Social and Cultural Rights (ECSRs)
Material subsistence
Guaranteed income/welfare
Basic education and healthcare
Public health measures
3rd Generation
Environmental protections
Cultural protections
o Funding to preserve language
Bullying/cyber-bullying
*Move from a degree in which theyre accepted to a degree in which theyre less accepted**
Us Rights claims (life, liberty, etc) Who bears the duties? Whos responsible for our rights?
Wide: we all do
Narrow basic structure
See figure 9.7
Rights Respect/Realization
When social institution provide everyone w/ the objects of their rights
Note: every society has human rights problems
E.g. In Canada: quality of life of Aboriginal people vs. regular Canadian
o Healthcare, education, rates of disease, etc.
o Other examples: bullying, elder abuse, equality
Rights Violation
Intentional
o Wicked Regime
o E.g. Nazis
Unintentional
o Impoverished Regimes
o Need AID

Tools to Help?
Law
National (Canada: Charter, US Bill of Rights)
o Trophy Law: law thats written and passed but not enforced
E.g. Constitution of Soviet Union is great but its a piece of trophy law
No bearing on Russian life (bleak dictatorship)
Just for show
o Law needs to be enforced and realized
Institutions need to be giving people these things
International
o UDHR (Universal Declaration of Human Rights)
o Passed in 1948, global treaty
o BUT intl law often doesnt get enforced
Tools of Foreign Policy
Diplomacy
o E.g. West has given up on convincing China with human rights, only uses
diplomacy
o China is fed up even with talking: says they will give up trade with us if we
continue to pester them with human rights talks (linkage)
o Western societies have no leverage in trying to change China
o Some say: As Chinese get richer, they will demand human rights in the future
Positive economic incentives
o Worked quite well in Central/South America in the 1980s
o US said theyd engage in trade deals w/ them if they started to let people to vote
Sanctions
o E.g. US: we refuse to trade w/ you at all until you become a democracy
o Lately, they have given up on the sanction
Armed force
o E.g. Libya
o Gadhafi was turning on his own people, NATO wouldnt let it happen
o Other examples: Bosnia, Kosovo
NGO
Used in the past 15years
E.g. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch
Lobby aggressively for human rights
o Educational campaigns
o Lobby govts to change
o Great use of new media
o Fundraise on behalf of those who have had their rights violated
o Law-suits to seek change
o CRITICIZE