Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the Rise of Global Human Rights Politics

Leading scholars demonstrate how colonial subjects, national liberation movements, and empires mobilized human rights language to contest self-determination during decolonization.

Introduction. Human rights, empire, and after Roland Burke, Marco Duranti and A. Dirk Moses; Part I. Anti-colonial struggles and the right to self-determination: 1. Seeking the political kingdom: universal human rights and the anti-colonial movement in Africa Bonny Ibhawoh; 2. Decolonizing the United Nations: Anti-colonialism and human rights in the French Empire Marco Duranti; 3. The French Red Cross, decolonization, and humanitarianism during the Algerian War Jennifer Johnson; 4. Connecting indigenous rights to human rights in the Anglo settler states: Another 1970s story Miranda Johnson; 5. Privileging the Cold War over decolonization: The US emphasis on political rights Mary Ann Heiss; Part II. Post-colonial statehood and global human rights norms: 6. Cutting out the ulcer and washing away the incubus of the past: genocide prevention through population transfer A. Dirk Moses; 7. Codifying minority rights: postcolonial constitutionalism in Burma, Ceylon, and India Cindy Ewing; 8. Between ambitions and caution: India, human rights, and self-determination at the United Nations Raphaëlle Khan; 9. 'From this era of passionate self-discovery': Norman Manley, human rights, and the end of colonial rule in Jamaica Steven L. B. Jensen; 10. Re-entering histories of past imperial violence: Kenya, Indonesia, and the reach of transitional justice Michael Humphrey; Part III. Colonial and neo-colonial responses; 11. The inventors of human rights in Africa: Portugal, late colonialism, and the UN human rights regime Miguel Bandeira Jerónimo and José Pedro Monteiro; 12. 'A world made safe for diversity': Apartheid and the language of human rights, progress, and pluralism Roland Burke; 13. Between humanitarian rights and human rights: René Cassin, architect of universality, diplomat of French Empire Jay Winter; 14. The end of the Vietnam War and the rise of human rights Barbara Keys; 15. Decolonizing the Geneva Conventions: national liberation and the development of humanitarian law Eleanor Davey; 16. Liberté sans frontières, French humanitarianism, and the neoliberal critique of Third Worldism Jessica Whyte.