The Uses and Misuses of Human Rights: A Critical Approach to Advocacy

This volume focuses on challenges to the effective and proper use of human rights and tries to identify, through a series of case studies, strategies and contexts in which human rights advocacy can work in favor of human rights, as well as situations in which such advocacy may backfire, or unintentionally cause harm.

Table of Contents:
1. On the Uses and Misuses of Human Rights; George Andreopoulos and Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat, 2. 'Gay Rights are Human Rights': The Framing of New Interpretations of International Human Rights Norms; Ronald Holzhacker 3. The Politics of a Strange Right: Consultation, Mining and Indigenous Mobilization in Latin America; Amanda M. Fulmer 4. The Price of Confrontation: International Retributive Justice and the Struggle for Haitian-Dominican Rights; Samuel Martinez 5. The Human Rights Framing of Maternal Health: A Strategy for Politicization or a Path to Genuine Empowerment?; Candace Johnson and Surma Das 6. Arms Transfers and the Human Rights Agenda; Susan Waltz 7. Transitional Justice and Injustice: The Uses and Misuses of the Liberal Peace; Cyanne E. Loyle and Christian Davenport 8. Constituencies of Compassion: The Politics of Human Rights and Consumerism; Joel R. Pruce

About the Author :
George Andreopoulos, Jay College of Criminal Justice and at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat, University of Connecticut, USA Surma Das, University of Guelph, Canada Christian Davenport, University of Michigan, USA Amanda M. Fulmer, University of Washington in Seattle, USA Ronald Holzhacker, University of Groningen, the Netherlands Candace Johnson, University of Guelph, Canada Cyanne E. Loyle, West Virginia University, USA Samuel Martínez, University of Connecticut, USA Joel R. Pruce, University of Dayton, USA Susan Waltz, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, USA

Review :
"The Uses and Misuses of Human Rights contributes invaluably to a more critical and complex understanding of human rights advocacy. In a world of violence, we are used to being critical of human rights abusers, but rarely do we question the advocates themselves or their strategies. This project's focus on the uses, abuses, and misuses of human rights (including the complexities of 'framing') is long overdue, especially given its nuanced analysis and policy implications. Through a series of fascinating cases, the authors offer a non-apologetic, balanced look at the achievements and challenges of human rights advocacy in today's world." - Sonia Cardenas, Trinity College, USA 'In this ground-breaking volume, Andreopoulos and Arat have gathered an impressive group of scholars to consider issues of human rights and social justice across a wide spectrum of concerns. What gives this collection of outstanding essays its stamp of originality is the illuminating editorial insistence that each author think critically about the benefits and limitations of human rights advocacy in a range of substantive contexts. This is a major scholarly advance, which also provides a challenging text for teaching human rights in a manner that invites critical scrutiny.' - Richard A. Falk, Albert G. Milbank Professor of International Law and Practice Emeritus at Princeton University, USA, and currently Research Professor and Fellow at the University of California at Santa Barbara, USA