Reconciling Law and Morality in Human Rights Discourse

Reconciling Law and Morality in Human Rights Discourse PDF Author: Willy Moka-Mubelo
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319494961
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 205

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Book Description
In this book I argue for an approach that conceives human rights as both moral and legal rights. The merit of such an approach is its capacity to understand human rights more in terms of the kind of world free and reasonable beings would like to live in rather than simply in terms of what each individual is legally entitled to. While I acknowledge that every human being has the moral entitlement to be granted living conditions that are conducive to a dignified life, I maintain, at the same time, that the moral and legal aspects of human rights are complementary and should be given equal weight. The legal aspect compensates for the limitations of moral human rights the observance of which depends on the conscience of the individual, and the moral aspect tempers the mechanical and inhumane application of the law. Unlike the traditional or orthodox approach, which conceives human rights as rights that individuals have by virtue of their humanity, and the political or practical approach, which understands human rights as legal rights that are meant to limit the sovereignty of the state, the moral-legal approach reconciles law and morality in human rights discourse and underlines the importance of a legal framework that compensates for the deficiencies in the implementation of moral human rights. It not only challenges the exclusively negative approach to fundamental liberties but also emphasizes the necessity of an enforcement mechanism that helps those who are not morally motivated to refrain from violating the rights of others. Without the legal mechanism of enforcement, the understanding of human rights would be reduced to simply framing moral claims against injustices. From the moral-legal approach, the protection of human rights is understood as a common and shared responsibility. Such a responsibility goes beyond the boundaries of nation-states and requires the establishment of a cosmopolitan human rights regime based on the conviction that all human beings are members of a community of fate and that they share common values which transcend the limits of their individual states. In a cosmopolitan human rights regime, people are protected as persons and not as citizens of a particular state.

Reconciling Law and Morality in Human Rights Discourse

Reconciling Law and Morality in Human Rights Discourse PDF Author: Willy Moka-Mubelo
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319494961
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 205

Get Book

Book Description
In this book I argue for an approach that conceives human rights as both moral and legal rights. The merit of such an approach is its capacity to understand human rights more in terms of the kind of world free and reasonable beings would like to live in rather than simply in terms of what each individual is legally entitled to. While I acknowledge that every human being has the moral entitlement to be granted living conditions that are conducive to a dignified life, I maintain, at the same time, that the moral and legal aspects of human rights are complementary and should be given equal weight. The legal aspect compensates for the limitations of moral human rights the observance of which depends on the conscience of the individual, and the moral aspect tempers the mechanical and inhumane application of the law. Unlike the traditional or orthodox approach, which conceives human rights as rights that individuals have by virtue of their humanity, and the political or practical approach, which understands human rights as legal rights that are meant to limit the sovereignty of the state, the moral-legal approach reconciles law and morality in human rights discourse and underlines the importance of a legal framework that compensates for the deficiencies in the implementation of moral human rights. It not only challenges the exclusively negative approach to fundamental liberties but also emphasizes the necessity of an enforcement mechanism that helps those who are not morally motivated to refrain from violating the rights of others. Without the legal mechanism of enforcement, the understanding of human rights would be reduced to simply framing moral claims against injustices. From the moral-legal approach, the protection of human rights is understood as a common and shared responsibility. Such a responsibility goes beyond the boundaries of nation-states and requires the establishment of a cosmopolitan human rights regime based on the conviction that all human beings are members of a community of fate and that they share common values which transcend the limits of their individual states. In a cosmopolitan human rights regime, people are protected as persons and not as citizens of a particular state.

Human Rights as Ethics, Politics, and Law

Human Rights as Ethics, Politics, and Law PDF Author: Elena Namli
Publisher:
ISBN: 9789155489779
Category : Human rights
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
This study offers a critical approach to the connections between the law, politics, and morality as they figure in human rights discourse. It argues that human rights must be understood -- ethically, politically, and legally -- through the prism of reasonable skepticism towards the legitimacy of contemporary institutions for the protection of human rights. The colonial legacy of human rights, the lack of transparent principles for dealing with conflicting rights, and the counterproductive overemphasis upon the importance of legal instruments are considered as offering serious challenges to the lasting legitimacy of human rights. These challenges are analyzed by means of selected human rights-related cases as well as theoretical discussion. --publisher description.

The Concept of Human Dignity in Human Rights Discourse

The Concept of Human Dignity in Human Rights Discourse PDF Author: David Kretzmer
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004478191
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
The notion of human dignity plays a central role in human rights discourse. According to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognition of the inherent dignity and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. The international Covenants on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and on Civil and Political Rights state that all human rights derive from inherent dignity of the human person. Some modern constitutions include human dignity as a fundamental non-derogable right; others mention it as a right to be protected alongside other rights. It is not only lawyers concerned with human rights who have to contend with the concept of human dignity. The concept has been discussed by, inter alia, theologians, philosophers, and anthropologists. In this book leading scholars in constitutional and international law, human rights, theology, philosophy, history and classics, from various countries, discuss the concept of human dignity from differing perspectives. These perspectives help to elucidate the meaning of the concept in human rights discourse.

Intersectionality and Human Rights Law

Intersectionality and Human Rights Law PDF Author: Shreya Atrey
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1509935312
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
This collection of essays analyses how diversity in human identity and disadvantage affects the articulation, realisation, violation and enforcement of human rights. The question arises from the realisation that people, who are severally and severely disadvantaged because of their race, religion, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, class etc, often find themselves at the margins of human rights; their condition seldom improved and sometimes even worsened by the rights discourse. How does one make sense of this relationship between the complexity of people's disadvantage and violation of their human rights? Does the human rights discourse, based on its universal and common values, have tools, methods or theories to capture and respond to the difference in people's lived experience of rights? Can intersectionality help in that quest? This book seeks to inaugurate this line of inquiry.

Critical theory and human rights

Critical theory and human rights PDF Author: David McGrogan
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 1526131846
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
This book describes how human rights have given rise to a vision of benevolent governance that, if fully realised, would be antithetical to individual freedom. It describes human rights’ evolution into a grand but nebulous project, rooted in compassion, with the overarching aim of improving universal welfare by defining the conditions of human well-being and imposing obligations on the state and other actors to realise them. This gives rise to a form of managerialism, preoccupied with measuring and improving the ‘human rights performance’ of the state, businesses and so on. The ultimate result is the ‘governmentalisation’ of a pastoral form of global human rights governance, in which power is exercised for the general good, moulded by a complex regulatory sphere which shapes the field of action for the individual at every turn. This, unsurprisingly, does not appeal to rights-holders themselves.

Human Rights and Economic Policy Reform

Human Rights and Economic Policy Reform PDF Author: Aoife Nolan
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000454061
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 211

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Book Description
This book deals with the complex and challenging relationship between economic policy and human rights. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, the need to address the conceptual and methodological (dis)connects between these two areas is more pressing than ever. Inspired by the 2019 United Nations Guiding Principles on Human Rights Impact Assessments (HRIA) for Economic Reform Policies, this book brings together experts working on human rights and economic policy from a range of disciplinary perspectives, including economics, law, and development studies. The contributions reflect a huge body of professional experience in the academic, policy-making, advocacy, and practitioner fields. They cover issues including the politics of evidence in the context of HRIA, economic inequality, child rights impact assessment of economic reforms, economic policy and women’s human rights, tax regimes for multinational corporations and human rights, as well as the human rights impacts of the economic fall-out of the COVID-19 pandemic. The collection also includes the text of the Guiding Principles themselves. It constitutes a crucial volume for scholars, policymakers, advocates and others working on the burning topic of human rights and economic policy reform. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The International Journal of Human Rights.

Governance of Emerging Space Challenges

Governance of Emerging Space Challenges PDF Author: Nikola Schmidt
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 303086555X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 260

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Book Description
This edited volume discusses how even small nation states can make a significant difference in the future of space governance. The book is divided into three main sections covering political theory, case studies, and space technology and applications. Key topics of discussion include planetary defense, space mining, and high-power systems in space. Through these timely subjects, the book presents strategies for developing a truly global governance framework in space, based on the concept of a responsible cosmopolitan state. Authored by a multidisciplinary group of researchers from the Czech Republic, the volume will appeal to other scientific teams and policymakers looking to become pioneers of cosmopolitan space policies at a national and global level.

World Crisis and Underdevelopment

World Crisis and Underdevelopment PDF Author: David Ingram
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108389902
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398

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Book Description
World Crisis and Underdevelopment examines the impact of poverty and other global crises in generating forms of structural coercion that cause agential and societal underdevelopment. It draws from discourse ethics and recognition theory in criticizing injustices and pathologies associated with underdevelopment. Its scope is comprehensive, encompassing discussions about development science, philosophical anthropology, global migration, global capitalism and economic markets, human rights, international legal institutions, democratic politics and legitimation, world religions and secularization, and moral philosophy in its many varieties.

The Humble Cosmopolitan

The Humble Cosmopolitan PDF Author: Luis Cabrera
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 019086950X
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361

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Book Description
"Cosmopolitanism is said by many critics to be arrogant. In emphasizing universal principles and granting no fundamental moral significance to national or other group belonging, it wrongly treats those making non-universalist claims as not authorized to speak, while treating those in non-Western societies as not qualified. This book works to address such objections. It does so in part by engaging the work of B.R. Ambedkar, architect of India's 1950 Constitution and revered champion of the country's Dalits (formerly "untouchables"). Ambedkar cited universal principles of equality and rights in confronting domestic exclusions and the "arrogance" of caste. He sought to advance forms of political humility, or the affirmation of equal standing within political institutions and openness to input and challenge within them. This book examines how an "institutional global citizenship" approach to cosmopolitanism could similarly advance political humility, in supporting the development of input and challenge mechanisms beyond the state. It employs a grounded normative theory method, taking insights for the model from field research among Dalit activists pressing for domestic reforms through the UN human rights regime, and from their critics in the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. Insights also are taken from Turkish protesters challenging a rising domestic authoritarianism, and from UK Independence Party members demanding "Brexit" from the European Union-in part because of possibilities that predominantly Muslim Turkey will join. Overall, it is shown, an appropriately configured institutional cosmopolitanism should orient fundamentally to political humility rather than arrogance, while holding significant potential for advancing global rights protections and more equitable rights specifications"--

World Politics

World Politics PDF Author: Jeffrey Haynes
Publisher: SAGE
ISBN: 1529613833
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 772

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Book Description
How can we better resolve issues like climate change or global pandemics? When is resolution of armed conflict achievable? What impact does culture, religion or identity have on world events? Today’s world politics is complex, contested and changing fast. Sovereign states, big data, international institutions, world leaders, large companies, and citizens all have vested interests in the most momentous issues facing us. Whether it’s economic crisis, global health, nuclear deterrence or war, this text is the ideal guide to understanding the most critical issues of today, and the competing ways to interpret them. Extensively revised, the third edition takes you through the key events and changes in world politics from the 1500s, showing how historical events and developments are essential for understanding world politics today. Packed with examples from around the world, the book introduces the reader to different theories, concepts, issues, and actors in world politics.Covering all the essential topics, from international law and political economy to critical theory and security studies, this new edition includes: - 3 brand new chapters on Foreign Policy Analysis, Race and Identity, and Global Health - Fully revised historical chapters for a comprehensive historical perspective - An expanded range of topics, cases, and cutting-edge research to fully reflect the latest empirical and theoretical developments Its unparalleled breadth and clarity make it the perfect introductory text for all undergraduate students of International Relations and Global Politics. Jeffrey Haynes is an emeritus professor of politics at London Metropolitan University. Peter Hough is an Associate Professor in International Politics at Middlesex University, London. Bruce Pilbeam is a Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at London Metropolitan University.