The Politics of Human Rights Protection

Jan Knippers Black is professor in the Graduate School of International Policy Studies, Monterey Institute of International Studies. For an interview with the author on Women News Network, please click here. To view the author discussing her book on Evening Insight, please click here.

This important work argues that human rights abuse is not necessarily about distant places and peoples, and it is neither incomprehensible nor inevitable. Despite seeming consensus about the importance of human rights protection, abuse-based in inequality-continues to expand. This empowering book seeks to break through barriers of ignorance, apathy, denial, and despair that allow decent people to tolerate indecent acts by their governments, and to arm a new generation of human rights advocates with analytical and strategic tools to prevent future atrocities.

Chapter 1: The Human Rights Perspective and the Need for Impact Assessment Part I: The Politics of a Human Rights Agenda Chapter 2: What's in a Name? Deconstructing Human Rights Terms and Concepts Chapter 3: The Dialectics of Building an International Human Rights Regime Chapter 4: Human Rights Cleavages and Controversies: The Discourse Part II: The Right to Eat: Social and Economic Rights Chapter 5: The Globalization of Vulnerability Chapter 6: From the Ashes: Argentina's Return from Meltdown Part III: The Right to Belong: Civil and Political Rights Chapter 7: Participation and Accountability Chapter 8: Wayfarers in a Walled-Up World Chapter 9: Chile's Long Way Home Part IV: The Right to be Different: Cultural Rights Chapter 10: The Political Dimensions of Diversity Chapter 11: Feminism, Democracy, and Self-Determination: The Taiwanese Experience Part V: The Right to the Commons: Environmental Rights Chapter 12: The Naked Ape in Nature: Master or Guardian? Chapter 13: China's Three Gorges: The Dam and the Damned Part VI: The Right to a Just Peace Chapter 14: From Sustainable War to Sustainable Peace Chapter 15: Against All Odds: East Timor's Quest for Independence Part VII: The Elephant in the Room Chapter 16: Empire as a State of War Chapter 17: Terror and the War to End All Rights Part VIII: Strategic Focus: No Promised Land in Denial Valley Chapter 18: Cautious Mainstreaming, Constructive Subversion Conclusion: Playing from Strength Appendix: Human Rights Impact Assessment: Tips and Tools