This volume of specially commissioned articles is devoted to a consideration of how the subject of human rights impacts on contemporary politics and on the discipline of political science. It assesses the role of human rights in political theory, international law and international relations and in relation to the politics of different regions of the […]
This book addresses a set of questions focusing on the imperatives of justice at the national, regional and international levels. The examination of these imperatives is conducted through an analysis of civil, political, economic, and social rights. There are two reasons for this type of analysis. First, any search for justice is based upon identifying […]
Canadians like to see themselves as champions of human rights in the international community. Closer to home, however, the human rights system in Canada – particularly its public institutions such as commissions and tribunals – has been the object of sustained debate and vehement criticism, based largely on widespread myths about how it works. In […]
Ours has been called a global “age of rights,” an era in which respect for human rights is considered the highest aspiration of the international democratic community. Since the United Nation’s 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a wide variety of protections–civil, political, economic, social, and cultural–have been given legal validation as countries ratify treaties, […]
Promoting Islam as a defender of human rights is fraught with difficulties. Many advocates of human rights readily point out the numerous examples of humanitarian failures carried out in the name of Islam: the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, female genital mutilation in Africa, the penal code and lack of female suffrage in Saudi Arabia, genocide […]
New York-based photographer Mariana Cook is known for her character studies of persons both in and out of the public eye. Among her previous bestselling photobooks are “Mathematicians,” “Faces of Science,” “Mothers and Sons” and “Fathers and Daughters.” Her latest collection introduces us to some of the women and men who are the faces of […]
Carol Gould addresses the fundamental issue of democratizing globalization, or finding ways to open transnational institutions and communities to democratic participation by those widely affected by their decisions. Gould develops a framework for expanding participation in cross-border decisions, arguing for a broader understanding of human rights. In addition, she introduces a new role for the […]
A work of memoir, history, and a call to action, In Search of a Better World, the 2017 CBC Massey Lecture, is a powerful and essential work on the major human rights struggles of our times. In February of 2017, Amnesty International released their Annual Report for 2016 to 2017, concluding that the “us versus […]
In the days of Moses, blasphemy was the mortal offence of failing to respect the divine. In an age of human rights, blasphemy is understood as a failure to respect persons, as insult, defamation, or “advocacy of religious hatred.” The criminalisation of this personal blasphemy has been advanced at the United Nations and upheld by […]
Micheline Ishay recounts the dramatic struggle for human rights across the ages in a book that brilliantly synthesizes historical and intellectual developments from the Mesopotamian Codes of Hammurabi to today’s era of globalization. As she chronicles the clash of social movements, ideas, and armies that have played a part in this struggle, Ishay illustrates how […]
