Ian Clark
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199297009
- eISBN:
- 9780191711428
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199297009.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The conventional view of international society has it that it is interested only in co-existence and order amongst states. This creates a puzzle. When the historical record is examined, we discover ...
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The conventional view of international society has it that it is interested only in co-existence and order amongst states. This creates a puzzle. When the historical record is examined, we discover that international society has repeatedly signed up to normative principles that go well beyond this purpose. When it has done so, it has built new normative constraints into international legitimacy, and this is most conspicuously so when it has espoused broadly humanitarian principles. This suggests that the norms adopted by international society might have been encouraged from the distinct constituency of world society. The book traces a series of historical case studies which issued in international affirmation of such principles: slave-trade abolition in 1815; the public conscience in 1899; social justice (but not racial equality) in 1919; human rights in 1945; and democracy as the only acceptable form of state in 1990. In each case, evidence is presented of world-society actors (transnational movements, advocacy networks, and INGOs) making the political running for a new principle, often in alliance with a leading state. At the same time, world society has mounted a normative case, and this can be seen as a degree of normative integration between international and world society. Collectively, the book contributes to the growing IR literature on the role of norms, and especially that written from a broadly English School or constructivist perspective.Less
The conventional view of international society has it that it is interested only in co-existence and order amongst states. This creates a puzzle. When the historical record is examined, we discover that international society has repeatedly signed up to normative principles that go well beyond this purpose. When it has done so, it has built new normative constraints into international legitimacy, and this is most conspicuously so when it has espoused broadly humanitarian principles. This suggests that the norms adopted by international society might have been encouraged from the distinct constituency of world society. The book traces a series of historical case studies which issued in international affirmation of such principles: slave-trade abolition in 1815; the public conscience in 1899; social justice (but not racial equality) in 1919; human rights in 1945; and democracy as the only acceptable form of state in 1990. In each case, evidence is presented of world-society actors (transnational movements, advocacy networks, and INGOs) making the political running for a new principle, often in alliance with a leading state. At the same time, world society has mounted a normative case, and this can be seen as a degree of normative integration between international and world society. Collectively, the book contributes to the growing IR literature on the role of norms, and especially that written from a broadly English School or constructivist perspective.
Tim Hayward
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199278688
- eISBN:
- 9780191602757
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199278687.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This book shows why a fundamental right to an adequate environment ought to be provided in the constitution of any modern democratic state. Explains why the right to an environment adequate for one’s ...
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This book shows why a fundamental right to an adequate environment ought to be provided in the constitution of any modern democratic state. Explains why the right to an environment adequate for one’s health and well-being is a genuine human right and why it ought to be constitutionalised. Elaborates this case and defends it in closely argued responses to critical challenges. Shows why there is no insurmountable obstacle to the effective implementation of this constitutional right, and why constitutionalising this right is not democratically illegitimate. With particular reference to European Union member states, it explains what this right adds to the states’ existing human rights and environmental commitments Concludes by showing how constitutional environmental rights can serve to promote the cause of environmental justice in a global context.Less
This book shows why a fundamental right to an adequate environment ought to be provided in the constitution of any modern democratic state. Explains why the right to an environment adequate for one’s health and well-being is a genuine human right and why it ought to be constitutionalised. Elaborates this case and defends it in closely argued responses to critical challenges. Shows why there is no insurmountable obstacle to the effective implementation of this constitutional right, and why constitutionalising this right is not democratically illegitimate. With particular reference to European Union member states, it explains what this right adds to the states’ existing human rights and environmental commitments Concludes by showing how constitutional environmental rights can serve to promote the cause of environmental justice in a global context.
Joshua Cohen
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199281688
- eISBN:
- 9780191603747
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199281688.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This essay answers ‘no’ to the question raised in its title. It affirms that democracy is a political order that produces all kinds of important benefits and that justice requires democracy. However, ...
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This essay answers ‘no’ to the question raised in its title. It affirms that democracy is a political order that produces all kinds of important benefits and that justice requires democracy. However, in contrast to G.A. Cohen’s insistence that facts not infect principles, it also calls for taking account of context, in this case at least: democracy is a demanding political ideal that would be inappropriate as an object of global responsibility. A society might fall short of being fully democratic without violating human rights. Moreover, if we insist that there is a human right to democracy, a strategy designed to elevate democracy by giving it some kind of universal status might in fact end up diluting its substance.Less
This essay answers ‘no’ to the question raised in its title. It affirms that democracy is a political order that produces all kinds of important benefits and that justice requires democracy. However, in contrast to G.A. Cohen’s insistence that facts not infect principles, it also calls for taking account of context, in this case at least: democracy is a demanding political ideal that would be inappropriate as an object of global responsibility. A society might fall short of being fully democratic without violating human rights. Moreover, if we insist that there is a human right to democracy, a strategy designed to elevate democracy by giving it some kind of universal status might in fact end up diluting its substance.
Wilfred Beckerman and Joanna Pasek
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199245086
- eISBN:
- 9780191598784
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199245088.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Environmental Politics
In rich countries, environmental problems are seen as problems of prosperity. In poor countries, they are seen as problems of poverty. This is because the environmental problems in poor ...
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In rich countries, environmental problems are seen as problems of prosperity. In poor countries, they are seen as problems of poverty. This is because the environmental problems in poor countries—such as lack of clean drinking water or decent sanitation—are problems that affect them here and now, whereas in rich countries the environmental problems that people worry about most—largely as a result of current prosperity and economic growth—are those that seem likely to harm mainly posterity and hence violate our obligations to future generations.But what exactly are our obligations to future generations? Are they determined by some sort of ethical system, such as the ‘rights’ of future generations, or justice between generations, or intergenerational equity, or sustainable development? The first part of this book is addressed to these questions. It is argued that while ethical ‘systems’ do not provide much help, we still have moral obligations to take account of the interests that future generations will have. But an appraisal of these interests in the light of probable future developments suggests that, while environmental problems have to be taken seriously, our main obligation to future generations is to bequeath to them a more decent society in which there is greater respect for basic human rights than is the case today throughout most of the world.Furthermore, it cannot serve the interests of justice if the burden of protecting the environment for the benefit of posterity is born mainly by poorer people today. More resources devoted to the environment means fewer are devoted competing claims for, say, health care or education or housing, not to mention plain private consumption. And in poor countries millions of people suffer from acute lack of sanitation, clean drinking water, shelter, and basic infrastructures to prevent or cure widespread disease. Neither generations nor nations are homogeneous entities. The later chapters of this book, therefore, are addressed to the ethical aspects of the way that resources ought to be shared out between environmental protection and competing uses in all countries, and how the burden of dealing with global environmental problems ought to be shared out between rich and poor nations.Less
In rich countries, environmental problems are seen as problems of prosperity. In poor countries, they are seen as problems of poverty. This is because the environmental problems in poor countries—such as lack of clean drinking water or decent sanitation—are problems that affect them here and now, whereas in rich countries the environmental problems that people worry about most—largely as a result of current prosperity and economic growth—are those that seem likely to harm mainly posterity and hence violate our obligations to future generations.
But what exactly are our obligations to future generations? Are they determined by some sort of ethical system, such as the ‘rights’ of future generations, or justice between generations, or intergenerational equity, or sustainable development? The first part of this book is addressed to these questions. It is argued that while ethical ‘systems’ do not provide much help, we still have moral obligations to take account of the interests that future generations will have. But an appraisal of these interests in the light of probable future developments suggests that, while environmental problems have to be taken seriously, our main obligation to future generations is to bequeath to them a more decent society in which there is greater respect for basic human rights than is the case today throughout most of the world.
Furthermore, it cannot serve the interests of justice if the burden of protecting the environment for the benefit of posterity is born mainly by poorer people today. More resources devoted to the environment means fewer are devoted competing claims for, say, health care or education or housing, not to mention plain private consumption. And in poor countries millions of people suffer from acute lack of sanitation, clean drinking water, shelter, and basic infrastructures to prevent or cure widespread disease. Neither generations nor nations are homogeneous entities. The later chapters of this book, therefore, are addressed to the ethical aspects of the way that resources ought to be shared out between environmental protection and competing uses in all countries, and how the burden of dealing with global environmental problems ought to be shared out between rich and poor nations.
José María Guembe
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199291922
- eISBN:
- 9780191603716
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199291926.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Since its return to democracy, Argentina has made great efforts to address the legacy of the last military dictatorship. This paper presents a complete overview of the Argentinean policy of economic ...
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Since its return to democracy, Argentina has made great efforts to address the legacy of the last military dictatorship. This paper presents a complete overview of the Argentinean policy of economic reparations for the victims of human rights violations committed between 1975-1983, including the beneficiaries, the crimes for which victims received reparations, the amounts paid, and the forms of payment. It analyzes the motivations for redressing the victims, from both national and international perspectives. It identifies the positions adopted by the different actors involved in the measures, especially the State and human rights organizations. The latter gained undeniable legitimacy by representing the victims and has consolidated into a group that has become the main actor on issues related to the legacy of the military dictatorship. The paper also focuses on economic, legal, and political questions that have arisen during the process of designing and implementing the reparation policy.Less
Since its return to democracy, Argentina has made great efforts to address the legacy of the last military dictatorship. This paper presents a complete overview of the Argentinean policy of economic reparations for the victims of human rights violations committed between 1975-1983, including the beneficiaries, the crimes for which victims received reparations, the amounts paid, and the forms of payment. It analyzes the motivations for redressing the victims, from both national and international perspectives. It identifies the positions adopted by the different actors involved in the measures, especially the State and human rights organizations. The latter gained undeniable legitimacy by representing the victims and has consolidated into a group that has become the main actor on issues related to the legacy of the military dictatorship. The paper also focuses on economic, legal, and political questions that have arisen during the process of designing and implementing the reparation policy.
Arturo J. Carrillo
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199291922
- eISBN:
- 9780191603716
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199291926.003.0015
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This paper examines how international law contributes to contemporary understandings of transitional justice with respect to reparations for victims of gross and systematic human rights abuses. The ...
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This paper examines how international law contributes to contemporary understandings of transitional justice with respect to reparations for victims of gross and systematic human rights abuses. The author surveys the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights through 2003 to determine how the Court’s practice can be used to guide the formulation of reparatory policies during political transition. Recognizing that the direct application of Inter-American case law to situations of mass atrocity is not always viable in practice, the author analyzes regional human rights jurisprudence, particularly that relating to compensation, to determine what role the Court’s rules can and cannot play as a reference for policymakers and societies faced with the challenge of designing a reparations program. He concludes that while landmark Court decisions like Velásquez Rodríguez provide general normative guidance, there are significant obstacles to extending to the transitional justice context many of the measures, amounts, and formulas relied upon by the Court in awarding compensation. The fairness of compensation outside the courtroom cannot be determined with reference to predetermined rules, but depends on the factual context in which the measures are adopted including the number of victims involved. A better source of comparative inspiration is found in the Court’s growing practice of adopting non-monetary reparations measures to deal with moral harm.Less
This paper examines how international law contributes to contemporary understandings of transitional justice with respect to reparations for victims of gross and systematic human rights abuses. The author surveys the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights through 2003 to determine how the Court’s practice can be used to guide the formulation of reparatory policies during political transition. Recognizing that the direct application of Inter-American case law to situations of mass atrocity is not always viable in practice, the author analyzes regional human rights jurisprudence, particularly that relating to compensation, to determine what role the Court’s rules can and cannot play as a reference for policymakers and societies faced with the challenge of designing a reparations program. He concludes that while landmark Court decisions like Velásquez Rodríguez provide general normative guidance, there are significant obstacles to extending to the transitional justice context many of the measures, amounts, and formulas relied upon by the Court in awarding compensation. The fairness of compensation outside the courtroom cannot be determined with reference to predetermined rules, but depends on the factual context in which the measures are adopted including the number of victims involved. A better source of comparative inspiration is found in the Court’s growing practice of adopting non-monetary reparations measures to deal with moral harm.
Daniel Engster
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199214358
- eISBN:
- 9780191706684
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199214358.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter explores the question: What does it mean to care for others in international relations? Sara Ruddick, Fiona Robinson, and others have outlined international relations theories based upon ...
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This chapter explores the question: What does it mean to care for others in international relations? Sara Ruddick, Fiona Robinson, and others have outlined international relations theories based upon care ethics, but their accounts are fairly general and say little about the rights and policies necessary for establishing caring relations among people across the world. The first half of this chapter develops a human rights framework based upon human beings' universal duty to care for others. The chapter argues that this framework avoids the central shortcomings of other international rights frameworks, and more generally provides a standard of justice that should be reasonably acceptable to people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. The second half of the chapter outlines some specific strategies and policies for enforcing human rights abroad and caring for distant others. In the last section, the chapter discusses the conditions under which care theory might justify the use of military force, especially for the sake of intervening into other countries for humanitarian purposes.Less
This chapter explores the question: What does it mean to care for others in international relations? Sara Ruddick, Fiona Robinson, and others have outlined international relations theories based upon care ethics, but their accounts are fairly general and say little about the rights and policies necessary for establishing caring relations among people across the world. The first half of this chapter develops a human rights framework based upon human beings' universal duty to care for others. The chapter argues that this framework avoids the central shortcomings of other international rights frameworks, and more generally provides a standard of justice that should be reasonably acceptable to people from diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. The second half of the chapter outlines some specific strategies and policies for enforcing human rights abroad and caring for distant others. In the last section, the chapter discusses the conditions under which care theory might justify the use of military force, especially for the sake of intervening into other countries for humanitarian purposes.
Elizabeth Lira
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199291922
- eISBN:
- 9780191603716
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199291926.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This paper describes the reparations programs implemented in Chile from 1990 to 2004. These programs target the victims of human rights violations committed during the military regime (1973-1990). ...
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This paper describes the reparations programs implemented in Chile from 1990 to 2004. These programs target the victims of human rights violations committed during the military regime (1973-1990). These include the relatives of the missing and executed persons; people who were dismissed from their jobs for political motives; peasants who participated in land reform and were expelled from the land for political reasons; and Chilean exiles returning to the country. Political prisoners and torture victims were considered only in 2003. The creation of the Commission for Political Imprisonment and Torture (2003-2005) was followed by a law which provides pensions to political prisoners and torture victims identified by the Commission. Created with different kinds of victims in mind, these programs were based on pensions, social services, educational benefits, and public recognition of the violations of the victims’ rights, monuments, sites of memory, and health assistance, mainly in the form of mental health services. The Program for Reparation and Integral Health Assistance for Victims of Human Rights Violations, created in 1991 and reinforced by a law at the end of 2004, has been the reparation measure for all kinds of victims of human rights violations, including third-generation relatives.Less
This paper describes the reparations programs implemented in Chile from 1990 to 2004. These programs target the victims of human rights violations committed during the military regime (1973-1990). These include the relatives of the missing and executed persons; people who were dismissed from their jobs for political motives; peasants who participated in land reform and were expelled from the land for political reasons; and Chilean exiles returning to the country. Political prisoners and torture victims were considered only in 2003. The creation of the Commission for Political Imprisonment and Torture (2003-2005) was followed by a law which provides pensions to political prisoners and torture victims identified by the Commission. Created with different kinds of victims in mind, these programs were based on pensions, social services, educational benefits, and public recognition of the violations of the victims’ rights, monuments, sites of memory, and health assistance, mainly in the form of mental health services. The Program for Reparation and Integral Health Assistance for Victims of Human Rights Violations, created in 1991 and reinforced by a law at the end of 2004, has been the reparation measure for all kinds of victims of human rights violations, including third-generation relatives.
Sir Adam Roberts
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199275359
- eISBN:
- 9780191603686
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199275351.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Along with identifying a number of pitfalls to be avoided in this project of conceptualizing a Just Peace, Roberts proposes using the term ‘justifiable force’ rather than Just War. This would move ...
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Along with identifying a number of pitfalls to be avoided in this project of conceptualizing a Just Peace, Roberts proposes using the term ‘justifiable force’ rather than Just War. This would move the tradition away from appearing to approve of war as a whole, and towards recognizing something more conditional and cautious — that the threat and use of military force by a particular state or group of states may, in precise circumstances, be justifiable. Roberts writes about how the development of the European Union has affected the nations of this region, and encourages an idea of ‘induction’ through adherence to human rights law as the way to become a part of this union. It is through processes at the regional level that we can find positive illustrations of how justice can be maximized without the introduction of force. Since a desire to proliferate the ‘good’ has long been what has shaped human relations, this examination of ‘induction’ provides an example of how an internal focus on justice can create an environment that promotes promulgation.Less
Along with identifying a number of pitfalls to be avoided in this project of conceptualizing a Just Peace, Roberts proposes using the term ‘justifiable force’ rather than Just War. This would move the tradition away from appearing to approve of war as a whole, and towards recognizing something more conditional and cautious — that the threat and use of military force by a particular state or group of states may, in precise circumstances, be justifiable. Roberts writes about how the development of the European Union has affected the nations of this region, and encourages an idea of ‘induction’ through adherence to human rights law as the way to become a part of this union. It is through processes at the regional level that we can find positive illustrations of how justice can be maximized without the introduction of force. Since a desire to proliferate the ‘good’ has long been what has shaped human relations, this examination of ‘induction’ provides an example of how an internal focus on justice can create an environment that promotes promulgation.
Independent International Commission on Kosovo
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199243099
- eISBN:
- 9780191599538
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199243093.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
The Kosovo Report is a final product of the work by the Independent International Commission on Kosovo, established to examine key developments prior to, during, and after the Kosovo war, including ...
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The Kosovo Report is a final product of the work by the Independent International Commission on Kosovo, established to examine key developments prior to, during, and after the Kosovo war, including systematic violations of human rights in the region. The report assesses effectiveness of diplomatic efforts to prevent the war, legality of the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, and the progress of the United Nations in post‐conflict reconstruction. The Report makes a recommendation for the future status of Kosovo and proposes a new general framework for humanitarian intervention based on principles of legitimacy. It argues that the intervention by the international community in the Kosovo conflict did not so much create a precedent for intervention elsewhere as raise vital question about the legitimacy and practicability of the use of military force to defend human rights. The intervention, the Report concludes, exposed the limitations of the current international law on the balance between the rights of citizens and the rights of states; it demonstrated the difficulties that ensue when even the most sophisticated and professional military forces are deployed to achieve humanitarian goals; and it showed the immense obstacles that lie in the path of creating multi‐ethnic cooperation in societies torn apart by ethnic war.Less
The Kosovo Report is a final product of the work by the Independent International Commission on Kosovo, established to examine key developments prior to, during, and after the Kosovo war, including systematic violations of human rights in the region. The report assesses effectiveness of diplomatic efforts to prevent the war, legality of the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, and the progress of the United Nations in post‐conflict reconstruction. The Report makes a recommendation for the future status of Kosovo and proposes a new general framework for humanitarian intervention based on principles of legitimacy. It argues that the intervention by the international community in the Kosovo conflict did not so much create a precedent for intervention elsewhere as raise vital question about the legitimacy and practicability of the use of military force to defend human rights. The intervention, the Report concludes, exposed the limitations of the current international law on the balance between the rights of citizens and the rights of states; it demonstrated the difficulties that ensue when even the most sophisticated and professional military forces are deployed to achieve humanitarian goals; and it showed the immense obstacles that lie in the path of creating multi‐ethnic cooperation in societies torn apart by ethnic war.
Pablo de Greiff (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199291922
- eISBN:
- 9780191603716
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199291926.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
This handbook provides a broad range of essential information about past experiences with massive reparations programs as well as normative guidance for future practice. It examines in detail ...
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This handbook provides a broad range of essential information about past experiences with massive reparations programs as well as normative guidance for future practice. It examines in detail reparations programs in different parts of the world, and includes thematic papers on topics that frequently come about in the design and implementation of reparations programs. It also reproduces key documents on reparations, including national legislation. In addition to providing factual information about a wide range of reparations programs, the book tackles issues that have not been sufficiently addressed, including the very notion of justice in reparations for the massive cases, the relationship between material compensation and other symbolic measures of reparations, and the complicated set of questions around how to provide reparations to victims of sexual violence.Less
This handbook provides a broad range of essential information about past experiences with massive reparations programs as well as normative guidance for future practice. It examines in detail reparations programs in different parts of the world, and includes thematic papers on topics that frequently come about in the design and implementation of reparations programs. It also reproduces key documents on reparations, including national legislation. In addition to providing factual information about a wide range of reparations programs, the book tackles issues that have not been sufficiently addressed, including the very notion of justice in reparations for the massive cases, the relationship between material compensation and other symbolic measures of reparations, and the complicated set of questions around how to provide reparations to victims of sexual violence.
David Little
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199275359
- eISBN:
- 9780191603686
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199275351.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Little raises many questions of international legality in addressing the finer concepts of peace enforcing, peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peace building. He accentuates the rule of law, democracy, ...
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Little raises many questions of international legality in addressing the finer concepts of peace enforcing, peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peace building. He accentuates the rule of law, democracy, and human rights as foundations for each of these stages towards a Just Peace. Looking towards collectively accepted international treaties for a concept of justice, Little taps into a notion of legal validity that is at least partially composed of a legitimacy that emanates from the people themselves. Although there are valid reasons for questioning who has been allowed to participate in the process developing international law, protecting the human rights of all, and labelling it justice certainly does not seem to create an untenable starting point. In fact, this approach that looks to protect the rights of all can be quite constructive because, ultimately, it is the people involved in a conflict who will determine whether a peace is just, and therefore lasting.Less
Little raises many questions of international legality in addressing the finer concepts of peace enforcing, peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peace building. He accentuates the rule of law, democracy, and human rights as foundations for each of these stages towards a Just Peace. Looking towards collectively accepted international treaties for a concept of justice, Little taps into a notion of legal validity that is at least partially composed of a legitimacy that emanates from the people themselves. Although there are valid reasons for questioning who has been allowed to participate in the process developing international law, protecting the human rights of all, and labelling it justice certainly does not seem to create an untenable starting point. In fact, this approach that looks to protect the rights of all can be quite constructive because, ultimately, it is the people involved in a conflict who will determine whether a peace is just, and therefore lasting.
Jaime E. Malamud‐Goti and Lucas Sebastián Grosman
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199291922
- eISBN:
- 9780191603716
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199291926.003.0016
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Compensation for human rights abuse can be approached from two different perspectives. The first is through principles of tort law, under which the compensation of harm for human rights abuse is no ...
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Compensation for human rights abuse can be approached from two different perspectives. The first is through principles of tort law, under which the compensation of harm for human rights abuse is no different from the compensation of other, ordinary harm. The second is based on principles of administrative compensation, where victims are defined in standardized terms in a statute that provides a relatively fixed, tabulated amount of compensation for all, which is typically smaller than judicial compensation. This paper analyzes the circumstances that justify a shift from the torts to the administrative approach to compensation, and how the two approaches should relate to each other. It addresses the issue of whether victims should have a right to choose between them in the disposition of their cases and, if so, under what conditions. Finally, it compares judicial to administrative compensation in relation to the goals a compensation program must pursue, and argues that even in those cases where administrative compensation offers the best option, it is advisable to leave room for the use of judicial compensation as well.Less
Compensation for human rights abuse can be approached from two different perspectives. The first is through principles of tort law, under which the compensation of harm for human rights abuse is no different from the compensation of other, ordinary harm. The second is based on principles of administrative compensation, where victims are defined in standardized terms in a statute that provides a relatively fixed, tabulated amount of compensation for all, which is typically smaller than judicial compensation. This paper analyzes the circumstances that justify a shift from the torts to the administrative approach to compensation, and how the two approaches should relate to each other. It addresses the issue of whether victims should have a right to choose between them in the disposition of their cases and, if so, under what conditions. Finally, it compares judicial to administrative compensation in relation to the goals a compensation program must pursue, and argues that even in those cases where administrative compensation offers the best option, it is advisable to leave room for the use of judicial compensation as well.
Allen Buchanan
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780198295358
- eISBN:
- 9780191600982
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198295359.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The purpose of this chapter is to articulate an understanding of basic human rights that is sufficiently clear and cogent to serve as the core of a justice‐based moral theory of international law. To ...
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The purpose of this chapter is to articulate an understanding of basic human rights that is sufficiently clear and cogent to serve as the core of a justice‐based moral theory of international law. To accomplish this goal, the concept of human rights is first analysed into its key elements, and the analysis is used to explain how assertions about human rights can be justified, and show that plausible justifications for basic human rights can be grounded in a diversity of moral and religious perspectives. Next, several objections to the claim that there are human rights or that they can play a fundamental role in a moral theory of international law are refuted, and it is argued that the right to minimally democratic governance should be included among the rights that international law ascribes to all persons—whether it is a human right or of instrumental value in securing human rights, or both. It is then shown that the use of coercion to protect basic human rights is compatible with a proper tolerance for the diversity of values, and the chapter concludes with a discussion of how the international legal order can cope with the ineliminable abstractness of human rights norms. The seven parts of the chapter are: I. Clarifying the Idea of Human Rights; II. The Justification of Assertions about the Existence of Human Rights; III. A Plurality of Converging Justifications for Human Rights; IV. Is democracy a Human Right?; V. Critiques of Human Rights; VI. Human Rights and the Bounds of Toleration; and VII. The Inelimable Indeterminacy of Human Rights and its Implications for the Moral Theory of International Law.Less
The purpose of this chapter is to articulate an understanding of basic human rights that is sufficiently clear and cogent to serve as the core of a justice‐based moral theory of international law. To accomplish this goal, the concept of human rights is first analysed into its key elements, and the analysis is used to explain how assertions about human rights can be justified, and show that plausible justifications for basic human rights can be grounded in a diversity of moral and religious perspectives. Next, several objections to the claim that there are human rights or that they can play a fundamental role in a moral theory of international law are refuted, and it is argued that the right to minimally democratic governance should be included among the rights that international law ascribes to all persons—whether it is a human right or of instrumental value in securing human rights, or both. It is then shown that the use of coercion to protect basic human rights is compatible with a proper tolerance for the diversity of values, and the chapter concludes with a discussion of how the international legal order can cope with the ineliminable abstractness of human rights norms. The seven parts of the chapter are: I. Clarifying the Idea of Human Rights; II. The Justification of Assertions about the Existence of Human Rights; III. A Plurality of Converging Justifications for Human Rights; IV. Is democracy a Human Right?; V. Critiques of Human Rights; VI. Human Rights and the Bounds of Toleration; and VII. The Inelimable Indeterminacy of Human Rights and its Implications for the Moral Theory of International Law.
Simon Caney
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780198293507
- eISBN:
- 9780191602337
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/019829350X.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
Having argued, in Ch. 2, that there are universal moral values, the next logical step is to ask what these universal moral values are; this question is pursued in Chs 3 and 4, which consider ...
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Having argued, in Ch. 2, that there are universal moral values, the next logical step is to ask what these universal moral values are; this question is pursued in Chs 3 and 4, which consider arguments for two different types of universal value and link together to provide an analysis of what universal principles of justice should apply at the global level. This chapter examines claims that there are universal principles of civil and political justice, that is, those principles that specify what rights people have to what freedoms, and argues for universal human rights to certain civil and political liberties. It is arranged in 13 sections: Section I presents an analysis of human rights, since this term plays a central and important role in a plausible account of civil and political justice; Section II puts forward a general thesis about justifications for civil and political human rights; this is followed, in Sections III–VII, by an analysis of four cosmopolitan arguments for human rights that criticizes three of them but defends the fourth; Section VIII considers an alternative non-cosmopolitan approach to defending civil and political human rights, presented by John Rawls in The Law of Peoples (1999b); the next three sections (IX–XI) of the chapter explore misgivings about civil and political human rights, including the objections that such human rights are a species of imperialism and do not accord sufficient respect to cultural practices (IX), produce homogeneity/uniformity (X), and generate egoism/individualism and destroy community (XI); Section XII considers a further objection—the realist charges that foreign policy to protect civil and political human rights is in practice selective and partial and a cloak for the pursuit of the national interest. Section XIII summarizes the overall case made for civil and political justice.Less
Having argued, in Ch. 2, that there are universal moral values, the next logical step is to ask what these universal moral values are; this question is pursued in Chs 3 and 4, which consider arguments for two different types of universal value and link together to provide an analysis of what universal principles of justice should apply at the global level. This chapter examines claims that there are universal principles of civil and political justice, that is, those principles that specify what rights people have to what freedoms, and argues for universal human rights to certain civil and political liberties. It is arranged in 13 sections: Section I presents an analysis of human rights, since this term plays a central and important role in a plausible account of civil and political justice; Section II puts forward a general thesis about justifications for civil and political human rights; this is followed, in Sections III–VII, by an analysis of four cosmopolitan arguments for human rights that criticizes three of them but defends the fourth; Section VIII considers an alternative non-cosmopolitan approach to defending civil and political human rights, presented by John Rawls in The Law of Peoples (1999b); the next three sections (IX–XI) of the chapter explore misgivings about civil and political human rights, including the objections that such human rights are a species of imperialism and do not accord sufficient respect to cultural practices (IX), produce homogeneity/uniformity (X), and generate egoism/individualism and destroy community (XI); Section XII considers a further objection—the realist charges that foreign policy to protect civil and political human rights is in practice selective and partial and a cloak for the pursuit of the national interest. Section XIII summarizes the overall case made for civil and political justice.
Alexander Segovia
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780199291922
- eISBN:
- 9780191603716
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199291926.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Truth commissions were created to investigate human rights violations as a result of political negotiations in both El Salvador and Haiti. The commissions included in their reports recommendations ...
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Truth commissions were created to investigate human rights violations as a result of political negotiations in both El Salvador and Haiti. The commissions included in their reports recommendations designed to secure reparations for the victims. However, despite the gravity of the events and the formal commitment of the governments, neither El Salvador nor Haiti has implemented these recommendations. Two case studies provide an opportunity to examine the economic, social, and political factors that explain non-compliance with truth-commission recommendations on reparations. This paper examines the experiences of El Salvador and Haiti, and presents some conclusions and lessons learned. The first and most important conclusion is that in order to ensure that reparations programs will be put into practice, a correlation of political forces that favors such programs is necessary. The construction of such a correlation depends on the existence of sufficiently powerful and influential players to promote and defend it.Less
Truth commissions were created to investigate human rights violations as a result of political negotiations in both El Salvador and Haiti. The commissions included in their reports recommendations designed to secure reparations for the victims. However, despite the gravity of the events and the formal commitment of the governments, neither El Salvador nor Haiti has implemented these recommendations. Two case studies provide an opportunity to examine the economic, social, and political factors that explain non-compliance with truth-commission recommendations on reparations. This paper examines the experiences of El Salvador and Haiti, and presents some conclusions and lessons learned. The first and most important conclusion is that in order to ensure that reparations programs will be put into practice, a correlation of political forces that favors such programs is necessary. The construction of such a correlation depends on the existence of sufficiently powerful and influential players to promote and defend it.
Andrew Altman and Christopher Heath Wellman
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- May 2009
- ISBN:
- 9780199564415
- eISBN:
- 9780191721434
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199564415.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory, International Relations and Politics
This book advances a novel theory of international justice that combines the orthodox liberal notion that the lives of individuals are what ultimately matter morally with the putatively antiliberal ...
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This book advances a novel theory of international justice that combines the orthodox liberal notion that the lives of individuals are what ultimately matter morally with the putatively antiliberal idea of an irreducibly collective right of self‐governance. The individual and his or her rights are placed at center stage insofar as political states are judged legitimate if they adequately protect the human rights of their constituents and respect the rights of all others. Yet, the book argues that legitimate states have a moral right to self‐determination and that this right is inherently collective, irreducible to the individual rights of the persons who constitute them. Exploring the implications of these ideas, the book addresses issues pertaining to democracy, secession, international criminal law, armed intervention, political assassination, global distributive justice, and immigration. A number of the positions taken in the book run against the grain of current academic opinion: there is no human right to democracy; separatist groups can be morally entitled to secede from legitimate states; the fact that it is a matter of brute luck whether one is born in a wealthy state or a poorer one does not mean that economic inequalities across states must be minimized or even kept within certain limits; most existing states have no right against armed intervention; and it is morally permissible for a legitimate state to exclude all would‐be immigrants.Less
This book advances a novel theory of international justice that combines the orthodox liberal notion that the lives of individuals are what ultimately matter morally with the putatively antiliberal idea of an irreducibly collective right of self‐governance. The individual and his or her rights are placed at center stage insofar as political states are judged legitimate if they adequately protect the human rights of their constituents and respect the rights of all others. Yet, the book argues that legitimate states have a moral right to self‐determination and that this right is inherently collective, irreducible to the individual rights of the persons who constitute them. Exploring the implications of these ideas, the book addresses issues pertaining to democracy, secession, international criminal law, armed intervention, political assassination, global distributive justice, and immigration. A number of the positions taken in the book run against the grain of current academic opinion: there is no human right to democracy; separatist groups can be morally entitled to secede from legitimate states; the fact that it is a matter of brute luck whether one is born in a wealthy state or a poorer one does not mean that economic inequalities across states must be minimized or even kept within certain limits; most existing states have no right against armed intervention; and it is morally permissible for a legitimate state to exclude all would‐be immigrants.
Rex Martin
- Published in print:
- 1997
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198292937
- eISBN:
- 9780191599811
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198292937.003.0005
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The chapter first discusses the different ways in which human rights are moral rights. The notion of valid claims (initially discussed in Ch. 2) has more purchase as an account of human rights; for ...
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The chapter first discusses the different ways in which human rights are moral rights. The notion of valid claims (initially discussed in Ch. 2) has more purchase as an account of human rights; for one thing it provides a clear sense to what one means in saying that a human right is a moral right: one means that the right follows from, or comports with, accredited normative moral principles or with accredited procedures for moral reasoning. Nonetheless, three points are raised in challenge to the idea that human rights are essentially morally valid claims: (1) a valid claim can be normatively sound as regards its justification, but without widespread acknowledgement or affirmation, it won’t function as an effective right; (2) what the right requires must be conformed to by second parties, the duty holders—otherwise it’ll be at best a merely nominal right; (3) it isdesirable for ‘rights’ to have the same sense when we talk either about human rights or about legal rights.The really controversial part of the chapter is the claim that human rights hold principally against organized societies (and their governments); the job of governments here is to respond to these moral demands by formulating what is being demanded as civil rights, rights of all persons in that society, and then by enforcing these rights. A putative right that lacked these things would slip back into being a merely valid moral claim; thus, full‐bodied human rights are ways of acting or ways of being treated that have sound normative justification, that have authoritative political recognition or endorsement, and that are maintained by conforming conduct and, where need be, by governmental enforcement.Less
The chapter first discusses the different ways in which human rights are moral rights. The notion of valid claims (initially discussed in Ch. 2) has more purchase as an account of human rights; for one thing it provides a clear sense to what one means in saying that a human right is a moral right: one means that the right follows from, or comports with, accredited normative moral principles or with accredited procedures for moral reasoning. Nonetheless, three points are raised in challenge to the idea that human rights are essentially morally valid claims: (1) a valid claim can be normatively sound as regards its justification, but without widespread acknowledgement or affirmation, it won’t function as an effective right; (2) what the right requires must be conformed to by second parties, the duty holders—otherwise it’ll be at best a merely nominal right; (3) it isdesirable for ‘rights’ to have the same sense when we talk either about human rights or about legal rights.
The really controversial part of the chapter is the claim that human rights hold principally against organized societies (and their governments); the job of governments here is to respond to these moral demands by formulating what is being demanded as civil rights, rights of all persons in that society, and then by enforcing these rights. A putative right that lacked these things would slip back into being a merely valid moral claim; thus, full‐bodied human rights are ways of acting or ways of being treated that have sound normative justification, that have authoritative political recognition or endorsement, and that are maintained by conforming conduct and, where need be, by governmental enforcement.
Kathryn Sikkink
- Published in print:
- 2001
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199243754
- eISBN:
- 9780191600333
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199243751.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
The history of US human rights policy in Latin America provides useful case studies of the interplay between ‘control’ and ‘consent’ aspects of democratization. It presents a preliminary analysis of ...
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The history of US human rights policy in Latin America provides useful case studies of the interplay between ‘control’ and ‘consent’ aspects of democratization. It presents a preliminary analysis of the influence of US human rights policy on human rights practices and democratization in Argentina, Guatemala, and Uruguay in the 1970s and early 1980s, focusing primarily on the Carter period. In each of these cases, the US policy attempted to influence the domestic human rights situation by linking the improvement of human rights practices to the provision of military or economic aid. But, the nature of the pressures applied and the responses thereto were quite different in the three countries, reflecting the importance of ‘consent’ issues, determined by the state of democratic transition achieved within the country concerned, in modifying the effects of ‘control’ pressures.Less
The history of US human rights policy in Latin America provides useful case studies of the interplay between ‘control’ and ‘consent’ aspects of democratization. It presents a preliminary analysis of the influence of US human rights policy on human rights practices and democratization in Argentina, Guatemala, and Uruguay in the 1970s and early 1980s, focusing primarily on the Carter period. In each of these cases, the US policy attempted to influence the domestic human rights situation by linking the improvement of human rights practices to the provision of military or economic aid. But, the nature of the pressures applied and the responses thereto were quite different in the three countries, reflecting the importance of ‘consent’ issues, determined by the state of democratic transition achieved within the country concerned, in modifying the effects of ‘control’ pressures.
Richard Youngs
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780199274468
- eISBN:
- 9780191602030
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199274460.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Democratization
This chapter argues that civil society’s perceptions of the relationship between democracy on one hand, and development, security, conflict and globalisation on the other, were less than ...
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This chapter argues that civil society’s perceptions of the relationship between democracy on one hand, and development, security, conflict and globalisation on the other, were less than straightforward. For some NGOs democracy was a legitimate political crusade; for others it was anathema to cultural heterogeneity and practical development needs; for most it was a welcome yet somewhat fuzzy dimension of international policy that was influential in orienting many elements of civil society but absent in name from their stated priorities.Less
This chapter argues that civil society’s perceptions of the relationship between democracy on one hand, and development, security, conflict and globalisation on the other, were less than straightforward. For some NGOs democracy was a legitimate political crusade; for others it was anathema to cultural heterogeneity and practical development needs; for most it was a welcome yet somewhat fuzzy dimension of international policy that was influential in orienting many elements of civil society but absent in name from their stated priorities.
