Review
Making a Space for Dissent in the Human Rights Discourse
International Studies Review, v 1(3), pp 156-159
01 Dec 1999
Abstract
Human Rights Fifty Years On, Evans Tony, ed. (Manchester, U.K.: Manchester University Press, 1999). 224 pp., cloth (ISBN: 0-7190-5102-9), $69.95; paper (ISBN: 0-7190-5103-7), $24.95.
The end of the Cold War was marked by enormous public optimism, including discussion of a "New World Order" built on a foundation of peace, free trade, and respect for democracy and human rights. Yet, a review of the academic literature on human rights suggests that serious thought on these matters is better characterized as cautious optimism, or even an attitude of "wait and see." Despite the triumphalism of Francis Fukuyama or certain US policymakers, most academic writers are well aware of the daily atrocities that occur worldwide, and of the self-interested maneuvering of states that undermine their purported ideals in the name of "political reality." Promising new developments, such as the rise of transnational nongovernmental organization movements or the creation of regional human rights regimes, are usually presented as halting steps toward progress, not as giant leaps.
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Details
- Title
- Making a Space for Dissent in the Human Rights Discourse
- Creators
- Joel E. Oestreich - Brown University
- Publication Details
- International Studies Review, v 1(3), pp 156-159
- Publisher
- Blackwell Publishers, Inc; Boston, USA and Oxford, UK
- Number of pages
- 4
- Resource Type
- Review
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Politics
- Other Identifier
- 991021863140604721