Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice

In the third edition of his classic work, revised extensively and updated to include recent developments on the international scene, Jack Donnelly explains and defends a richly interdisciplinary account of human rights as universal rights. He shows that any conception of human rights-and the idea of human rights itself-is historically specific and contingent. Since publication of the first edition in 1989, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice has justified Donnelly's claim that "conceptual clarity, the fruit of sound theory, can facilitate action. At the very least it can help to unmask the arguments of dictators and their allies."

Table of Contents:
Preface to the Third Edition Introduction Part I. Toward a Theory of Human Rights 1. The Concept of Human Rights How Rights Work Special Features of Human Rights Human Nature and Human Rights Human Rights and Related Practices Analytic and Substantive Theories The Failure of Foundational Appeals Coping with Contentious Foundations 2. The Universal Declaration Model The Universal Declaration The Universal Declaration Model Human Dignity and Human Rights Individual Rights Interdependence and Indivisibility The State and International Human Rights Respecting, Protecting, and Providing Human Rights Realizing Human Rights and Human Dignity 3. Economic Rights and Group Rights The Status of Economic and Social Rights Group Rights and Human Rights 4. Equal Concern and Respect Hegemony and Settled Norms An Overlapping Consensus on International Human Rights Moral Theory, Political Theory, and Human Rights Equal Concern and Respect Toward a Liberal Theory of Human Rights Consensus: Overlapping but Bounded Part II. The Universality and Relativity of Human Rights 5. A Brief History of Human Rights Politics and Justice in the Premodern Non-Western World The Premodern West The Modern Invention of Human Rights The American and French Revolutions Approaching the Universal Declaration Expanding the Subjects and Substance of Human Rights 6. The Relative Universality of Human Rights "Universal" and "Relative" The Universality of Internationally Recognized Human Rights Three Levels of Universality and Particularity Relative Universality: A Multidimensional Perspective 7. Universality in a World of Particularities Culture and the Relativity of Human Rights Advocating Universality in a World of Particularities Part III. Human Rights and Human Dignity 8. Dignity: Particularistic and Universalistic Conceptions in the West Dignitas: The Roman Roots of Dignity Biblical Conceptions: Kavod and Imago Dei Kant Rights and Dignity in the West Dignity and the Foundations of Human Rights 9. Humanity, Dignity, and Politics in Confucian China Cosmology and Ethics Confucians and the Early Empires "Neo-Confucianism" and Song Imperial Rule Twentieth-Century Encounters with "Rights" Human Rights and Asian Values 10. Humans and Society in Hindu South Asia Cosmology Social Philosophy Caste Hindu Universalism Opposition to Caste Discrimination Hinduism and Human Rights in Contemporary India Part IV. Human Rights and International Action 11. International Human Rights Regimes The Global Human Rights Regime Political Foundations of the Global Regime Regional Human Rights Regimes Single-Issue Human Rights Regimes Assessing Multilateral Human Rights Mechanisms The Evolution of Human Rights Regimes 12. Human Rights and Foreign Policy Human Rights and the National Interest International Human Rights and National Identity Means and Mechanisms of Bilateral Action The Aims of Human Rights Policy Foreign Policy and Human Rights Policy The Limits of International Action Appendix: Arguments against International Human Rights Policies Part V. Contemporary Issues 13. Human Rights, Democracy, and Development The Contemporary Language of Legitimacy Defining Democracy Democracy and Human Rights Defining Development Development-Rights Tradeoffs Development and Civil and Political Rights Markets and Economic and Social Rights The Liberal Democratic Welfare State 14. The West and Economic and Social Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights Domestic Western Practice The International Human Rights Covenants Functional and Regional Organizations Further Evidence of Western Support Understanding the Sources of the Myth Why Does It Matter? 15. Humanitarian Intervention against Genocide Intervention and International Law Humanitarian Intervention and International Law The Moral Standing of the State Politics, Partisanship, and International Order Changing Conceptions of Security and Sovereignty Justifying the Anti-genocide Norm Changing Legal Practices "Justifying" Humanitarian Intervention Mixed Motives and Consistency Politics and the Authority to Intervene Judging the Kosovo Intervention Darfur and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention 16. Nondiscrimination for All: The Case of Sexual Minorities The Right to Nondiscrimination Nondiscrimination and Political Struggle Discrimination against Sexual Minorities Nature, (Im)morality, and Public Morals Strategies for Inclusion Paths of Incremental Change References Index

About the Author :
Jack Donnelly is Andrew Mellon Professor and John Evans Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. His other books include International Human Rights and Realism in International Relations.

Review :
"Every once in a while a book appears that treats the leading issues of a subject in such a clear and challenging manner that it becomes central to understanding that subject. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice is just such a book. Donnelly's interpretations are clear and argued with zest."-American Political Science Review (reviewing a previous edition) "This wide-ranging book looks at all aspects of human rights, drawing on political theory, sociology, and international relations as well as international law."-Foreign Affairs (reviewing a previous edition) "What Donnelly does better than anyone else is to lay before the reader a coherent conceptual framework for an understanding of international human rights as an operative part of international life. The book remains at the top of any bibliography of indispensable books dealing with human rights."-Human Rights & Human Welfare (reviewing a previous edition)