My Account
Log in Registration
All
Cart
Highlights
Fiction Books
Non-Fiction Books
Children's Books
Rare Books
Music
DVD & Blu-Ray
Video Games
Category
Wishlists
Cart
All
Free Shipping in the UK
Trustpilot
Proud to be B-Corp

Human Rights at the UN Roger Normand

Human Rights at the UN By Roger Normand

Human Rights at the UN by Roger Normand

Reviews:
£22.99
Condition - New
Only 2 left
New

Summary

Provides a political history of the emergence and development of the human rights movement in the 20th century through the crucible of the United Nations, focusing on the hopes and expectations, concrete power struggles, national rivalries, and bureaucratic politics that moulded the international system of human rights law.

Human Rights at the UN Summary

Human Rights at the UN: The Political History of Universal Justice by Roger Normand

Human rights activists Roger Normand and Sarah Zaidi provide a broad political history of the emergence and development of the human rights movement in the 20th century through the crucible of the United Nations, focusing on the hopes and expectations, concrete power struggles, national rivalries, and bureaucratic politics that molded the international system of human rights law. The book emphasizes the period before and after the creation of the UN, when human rights ideas and proposals were shaped and transformed by the hard-edged realities of power politics and bureaucratic imperatives. It also analyzes the expansion of the human rights framework in response to demands for equitable development after decolonization and organized efforts by women, minorities, and other disadvantaged groups to secure international recognition of their rights.

Human Rights at the UN Reviews

International human rights law is based primarily on Western values and jurisprudence, but strong challenges from Asia and Africa have stimulated a lively debate over the issue. Thankfully, the current cultural gap has been bridged successfully by the team of Normand (Lahore Univ., Pakistan) and Zaidi (Center for Economic and Social Rights), who have produced an illuminating intellectual fusion. The authors carefully examine the historical background prior to WW II, and then distinguish between group and individual rights in the development of UN principles and covenants. They stress the lack of enforcement mechanisms, but praise the UN for giving birth to the modern human rights regime. Not surprisingly, they blame the Cold War for the evident defects as the US and USSR were both reluctant to accept limitations on sovereignty. The end of the Cold War helped further the UN human rights agenda, but it still remained dependent on voluntary state compliance with soft norms and policy targets. Normand and Zaidi are strongly critical of recent US policy, thus the latter sections of the book are increasingly polemical, but the authors do clearly announce that they are human rights activists, not just scholars. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and up.

-- A. Klinghoffer * Choice *

International human rights law is based primarily on Western values and jurisprudence, but strong challenges from Asia and Africa have stimulated a lively debate over the issue. Thankfully, the current cultural gap has been bridged successfully by the team of Normand (Lahore Univ., Pakistan) and Zaidi (Center for Economic and Social Rights), who have produced an illuminating intellectual fusion. . . . Recommended.October 2008

-- A. Klinghoffer * Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Camden *

. . . Normand and Zaidi have presented a quite readable account of the history of the UN human rights system, mostly providing a perspective on power relations . . . .January 2009

-- Klaas Dykmann * H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net *

. . . Zaidi and Normand, both human rights advocates for many years, have prepared a quite critical, readable and highly interesting book. . . January 2009

* History.Transnational *

Overall, this volume is extremely well written, organized, and researched, and provides a comprehensive understanding of the development of human rights at the United Nations. September, 2009

* H-NET Reviews Humanities & Social Sciences *

About Roger Normand

Roger Normand is Associate Professor of Law at Lahore University, Pakistan, and co-founder and former executive director of the Center for Economic and Social Rights. He has lectured widely on topics related to international politics and human rights. He lives in Lahore, Pakistan.

Sarah Zaidi is Coordinator of Research and Information Systems for Earthquakes-Pakistan and co-founder of the Center for Economic and Social Rights. She lives in Lahore, Pakistan.

Table of Contents

Contents
Series Editors' Foreword by Louis Emmerij, Richard Jolly, and Thomas G. Weiss
Foreword by Richard A. Falk
Preface
Acknowledgments
List of Abbreviations

Introduction

Part 1. Human Rights Foundations in the First Half of the Twentieth Century
1. First Expressions of International Human Rights Ideas
2. The Decline of Human Rights between World Wars
3. The Human Rights Crusade in World War II
4. Human Rights Politics in the United Nations Charter

Part 2. UN Negotiations and the Modern Human Rights Framework
5. Laying the Human Rights Foundation
6. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights
7. The Covenants

Part 3. The Impact of Civil Society and Decolonization
8. The Human Rights of Special Groups
9. The Right to Development
10. Looking at Human Rights since 1990 and in the Future

Notes
Index
About the Authors
About the United Nations Intellectual History Project

Additional information

NLS9780253219343
9780253219343
0253219345
Human Rights at the UN: The Political History of Universal Justice by Roger Normand
Roger Normand
New
Paperback
Indiana University Press
2008-01-09
528
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a new book - be the first to read this copy. With untouched pages and a perfect binding, your brand new copy is ready to be opened for the first time

Customer Reviews - Human Rights at the UN