DEPARTMENT OF POLITICS

MSC in Human Rights & International Politics

Human Rights and Global Politics

Second Term 2005-06

1.         CHARACTER OF THE COURSE

This course will investigate the role of human rights in global politics today. The course will partially be framed by the debate over the balance between human rights and state sovereignty. It will address both empirical and normative concerns—both the is and the ought. It will examine a variety of issues related to human rights, such as universality, genocide, and armed conflict, and how the international community responds to them.

 

2.         AIMS

·      To examine critically different approaches to conceptualizing human rights.

·      To identify the main elements of the global human rights regime.

·      To analyse how state preferences and characteristics shape the form and substance of human rights.

·      To assess the extent to which human rights constrain the autonomy of states.

·      To explore how human rights affect the actions of state and non-state actors.

·      To consider implications of human rights for the legitimacy of governance.

 

3.      INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of the course, students should be able to:

·      demonstrate an understanding of the main theoretical approaches to human rights;

·      understand the evolution of the human rights regime;

·      assess the implications of human rights for a wide variety of actors – from individuals, states, and international organizations;

·      advance reasoned and factually supported arguments both orally and in writing.

 

4.      CONTENT

The course introduces the principal theoretical approaches to conceptualizing human rights and places human rights within broader debates within international relations, in particular sovereignty. These will be illustrated by case studies. The course concludes by reflecting on how states and the international community can protect human rights and punish those who violate human rights.  More specifically, the course covers:

·      The idea of human rights

·      The content of human rights

·      Conflicts within and between various human rights

·      The human rights regime

·      The role of non-state actors

·      Humanitarian intervention

·      Human rights during conflict

·      Accountability for human rights abuses

 

5.      TEACHING

The course will be based on a seminar format that entails significant (mandatory) weekly preparation, in which participants must critically assess, discuss, and critique assigned readings.  A variety of teaching methods will be used including case studies, discussion, and debates. Note that participants must purchase the texts to ensure successful participation in the course. Students are encouraged to form reading groups in which they can discuss the readings before class.

The class will meet weekly on Wednesdays 1500-1700.

 

6.      COURSE REQUIREMENTS

This is a seminar based course, so regular and active class participation is required. Each student will have give one group presentation on the week’s readings and participate in one formal debate. Students are expected to attend all class sessions and to contribute actively to seminars. 

Groups of 2-3 people will lead discussion most weeks. Each group will provide the class with a set of questions and topics to consider by NOON on the Wednesday prior to the class they lead. These questions and topics must be written and sent to the instructor who will forward them to the class. These questions and topics should be completed in a refined and thoghtful manner. The questions should be a theoretical nature, relate to other class readings, and be developed in such a way that they engender discussion during the seminar. Groups needs not have the answers to the questions they ask; however, it is expected that they will formulate the questions with some theoretical rigor and with an idea as to why these questions are important to consider.

For the debates, teams of 3 students will engage in one debate on an issue, using not only the required readings assigned for the week, but also incorporating outside materials where appropriate. Information on the formal aspects of the debates will be provided.

In addition, each student will be required to maintain a reflection journal and write an assessed essay (details below).

Please review carefully Guidance on Coursework and Assessment in the MSc course guide, especially for notes on the preparation of essays and presentations. 

 

7.      ASSESSMENT

Assessment will be by journal, essay, and class participation.  The reflection journal will be composed of three parts. First, every week you will write a 1-2 page response paper (no more than 2 pages) where you engage with the arguments that authors are making. Do not just summarize. Rather, you should cast a critical eye on the readings, comparing, contrasting, and critiquing the arguments presented. You will hand these papers in at the beginning of class each week. Second, after class you will a write a very short (1 page) reflection on that week’s class. Third, at the end of term you will write a 5 page reflection on what you have learned in the course. All three of the components will be submitted together by 4:00 PM on Thursday 22 March 2005. It will count for 30% of the overall course mark.

Details on the essay, which will count for 50% of the overall course mark, will be provided. The essay will be due on 12 April 2006. Class participation will count for 20% of the overall course mark. Quality of comments counts as much as quantity of participation.

N.B.  PENALTIES

Penalties apply for the late submission of coursework essays (unless permission for late submission has been approved either by the course leader or by the MPhil Convenor). The penalty is 1 point for the first two days (or part thereof), and 1 point each day for five days, after which a mark of zero for the essay will apply. Weekly response papers may not be turned in late.

 

8.      PLAGIARISM

Plagiarism is the presentation of another person's work as your own. The University Calendar says that it is "considered as an act of academic fraudulence and is an offence against University discipline". The University Calendar sets out the procedure that a Head of Department must follow if plagiarism of assessed work is suspected. The presentation of someone else's essay is obviously fraudulent, but the dividing line between your own work and that of your sources is less clear. The solution is always to acknowledge your sources and to use quotations when repeating exactly what someone else has said. Generally you should avoid excessive paraphrasing of others' writings, even with acknowledgement; it does not demonstrate that you have understood the material you are reproducing. If in doubt seek guidance from the instructor.  Students are strongly advised to consult the University's Statement of Plagiarism which can be found on the Department's Web Page.

 

9.      COURSE TEXTS

The following are mandatory purchases for the course:

·      David P. Forsythe, Human Rights in International Relations, Cambridge, 2000.

·      Ann Marie Clark, Diplomacy of Conscience: Amnesty International and Changing Human Rights, Princeton, 2001

·     The Responsibility to Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, International Development and Research Centre, 2001 (also available online at: http://www.dfait-maeci.gc.ca/iciss-ciise/report-en.asp)

·      Roy Gutman and David Rieff, eds., Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know, W. W. Norton, 1999.

All of these books are available from John Smith & Sons.

The course also makes extensive use of internet sources and journal articles.  Most of the articles are available electronically through the Library’s website. A few articles will be available in an envelope outside my office. These should only be borrowed long enough to copy them. Do not wait until the night before the reading is due—the articles might not be available.

 

10.    OFFICE HOURS

Tuesday            4:00-5:00 PM

Wednesday 2:00-3:00 PM

Additional times by appointment (see cover for contact details).

 

11.    Other Policies

E-mail: All class members must check their Glasgow e-mail address regularly. I will distribute announcements and other materials via e-mail.

Class Conduct: This class will be conducted in an open and supportive manner. Please be respectful others in the classroom, and expect the same respect from your classmates.

Essays:  All essays and other written work are to be typed, double-spaced, in a 12 point font. You are responsible for all errors in your papers, including grammatical and spelling mistakes. They should have footnotes and a bibliography when relevant.

Failure to complete an assignment is grounds for failure in the course.

I reserve the right to modify this syllabus during the course of the semester.

Participation in this course implies acceptance of all of the policies and requirements stated in this syllabus.

Consult the MSc Course Guide for other regulations.

 

12.    Course Overview

Week	Date	Topic
1	11/1	The history and theory of human rights
2	18/1	The content of human rights
3	25/1	Universalism vs. relativism
4	1/2	The human rights regime
5	8/2	Human rights and non-state actors
6	15/2	Humanitarian intervention
7	22/2	Accountability I: amnesty, impunity, and truth commissions
8	1/3	Accountability II: genocide, war crimes tribunals, and universal jurisdiction
9	8/3	The applicability of human rights during war
10	15/3	Human rights in a globalised, post-cold war, post-9/11 world

 

13.    Detailed Course Outline

Readings are marked as follows:

Forsythe: David Forsythe, Human Rights and International Relations

Gutman: Roy Gutman and David Rieff, eds., Crimes of War: What the Public Should Know

HRQ: Human Rights Quarterly (available from the Library’s electronic holdings in the Project Muse database)

Electronic: Other articles available from the Library’s electronic holdings

Reserve: Can be found in an envelope outside of my office

All other readings can be found online. The online version of this course guide provides links to online articles:

http://homepage.mac.com/vicfalls/syllabi/hr/HumanRightsPG06.html

Other optional resources and readings may be listed to provide you with further background. These lists are not meant to be exhaustive.

 

1.      The history and theory of human rights

Where do human rights come from? Where do human rights fit within international relations? What is the relationship of human rights and sovereignty?

•Reserve: Kurt Mills, A New Sovereignty? Human Rights in the Emerging Global Order, (London, Macmillan, 1998): Chapter 1, “Reconstructing Sovereignty,” pp. 9-53

•Forsythe: Chapter 1, “Introduction: Human Rights in International Relations”

•HRQ: Jerome J. Shestack, “The Philosophic Foundations of Human Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly 20 (May 1998): 201-34

•Library Reserve: Micheline R. Ishay, The History of Human Rights (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004), Chapter 2, Human Rights and the Enlightenment,” pp. 63-116

•Additional readings and resources:

•Micheline R. Ishay, The History of Human Rights (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004)

 

2.      The content of human rights

What exactly are human rights? What are the main documents that lay out what human rights are? Do these documents tell the whole story? How do various human rights interact with each other?

•Forsythe: Chapter 2, “Establishing Human Rights Standards”

•HRQ (PCI Full Text): Rhoda Howard, “The Full-Belly Thesis: Should Economic Rights Take Priority Over Civil and Political Rights?” Human Rights Quarterly 5 (November 1983): 467-90

•HRQ: Rolf Künnemann, “A Coherent Approach to Human Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly (May 1995): 323-42

•Universal Declaration of Human Rights

•International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

•International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

•Additional readings and resources:

•HRQ: Rachel Murray and Steven Wheatley, “Groups and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights,” Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 213-236

•Online: UK Foreign Office, “What Are Human Rights?”

 

3.      Universalism vs. relativism

Are human rights universal? Are they the same among all countries and regions of the world? Are they Western? What does this mean? If human rights are not universal, can they be human rights?

•HRQ: John J. Tilley, “Cultural Relativism,” Human Rights Quarterly 22 (2000): 501-547

•HRQ: Daniel A. Bell, “The East Asian Challenge to Human Rights: Reflections on an East-West Dialogue,” Human Rights Quarterly 18 (3 1996): 641-67

•HRQ: Bonny Ibhawoh, “Between Culture and Constitution: Evaluating the Cultural Legitimacy of Human Rights in the African State,” Human Rights Quarterly 22 (2000): 838-860

•HRQ: Heiner Bielefeldt, “Muslim Voices in the Human Rights Debate,” Human Rights Quarterly 17 (4 1995): 587-617

•Reserve: Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, “State Responsibility Under International Human Rights Law to Change Religious and Customary Laws,” in Rebecca Cook, ed., Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994): 167-88

•Online: Case Study: Laura Dudley Jenkins, "Shah Bano: Muslim Women’s Rights," Teaching Human Rights Online

•Additional readings and resources:

•HRQ: Michael Goodhart, “Origins and Universality in the Human Rights Debates: Cultural Essentialism and the Challenge of Globalization,” Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 935-964

•HRQ: Janet Afary, “The Human Rights of Middle Eastern & Muslim Women: A Project for the 21^st Century,” Human Rights Quarterly 26 (2004) 106-125

•HRQ: Susan Waltz, “Universal Human Rights: The Contribution of Muslim States,” Human Rights Quarterly 26 (2004): 799-844

•Alison Dundes Renteln, International Human Rights: Universalism vs. Relativism (Sage Publications, 1990)

 

4.      The human rights regime

What are the main institutions and actors related to human rights on the gobal stage? Do they constrain states? Are they effective in protecting human rights.

•Forsythe: Chapter 3, “Global Application of Human Rights Norms” and Chapter 5 “Regional Application of Human Rights Norms,” pp. 55-83 and 110-138

•Electronic: Sonia Cardenas, “Norm Collision: Explaining the Effects of International Human Rights Pressure on State Behavior,” International Studies Review 6 (June 2004): 213-231

•Reserve: “Rulers and Ruled: Human Rights,” in Stephen D. Krasner, Sovereignty: Organized Hypocrisy (Princeton University Press): 105-126

•Online: Kofi Annan, In Larger Freedom: Towards Development, Security and Human Rights for All (March 2005), (Section IV, Freedom to Live in Dignity; Section IV.B, Strengthening the United Nations: The Councils)

•Online: UN General Assembly, 2005 World Summit Outcome, (Section IV, Human Rights and the Rule of Law

•Online: Amnesty International, “UN: Governments must act promptly and effectively on important human rights commitments in 2005 World Summit Document,” (26 September 2005)

•Online: List of International Human Rights Instruments

•Additional readings and resources:

•Online: African Charter on Human and People’s Rights

•Online: American Convention on Human Rights

•Online: Arab Charter on Human Rights

•Online: Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam

•Online: European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms

•Online: Vienna Convention and Programme of Action

•Online: Human Rights Network International

•HRQ: Sir Nigel Rodley, “United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies and Special Procedures of the Commission on Human Rights—Complementarity or Competition? Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 882-908

•HRQ: Sonia Cardenas, “Transgovernmental Activism: Canada’s Role in Promoting National Human Rights Commissions,” Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 775-790

•HRQ: Lindsay Moir, “Law and the Inter-American Human Rights System,” Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 182-212

•HRQ: Mahmood Monshipouri and Claude E. Welch, “The Search for International Human Rights and Justice: Coming to terms with New Global Realities,” Human Rights Quarterly 23 (2001): 370-401

•Electronic: Onna A. Hathaway, “Do human rights make a difference?” Yale Law Journal 111 (June 2002): 1935-2042

 

5.      Human rights and non-state actors

What role do non-state actors (and in particular non-governmental organizations) play in protecting human rights? To what extent can NGOs have an effect on the politics of human rights?

•Forsythe: Chapter 7: “Non-governmental Organizations and Human Rights”

•Ann Marie Clark, Diplomacy of Conscience: Amnesty International and Changing Human Rights Norms

•Gutman: pp. 202-204

•Additional readings and Resources:

•HRQ: Kenneth Roth, “Defending Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Practical Issues Faced by an International Human Rights Organization,” Human Rights Quarterly 26 (2004): 63-73

•Thomas Risse, Stephen C. Ropp, and Kathryn Sikkink, eds., The Power of Human Rights: International Norms and Domestic Change (Cambridge University Press, 1999)

 

6.      Humanitarian intervention

Armed intervention to protect human rights is one of the most forceful challenges to state sovereignty as tradiitonally conceived. Are such interventions legal? Or moral? When should states or the international community engage in such activities? What are the successes and failures of humanitarian intervention?

•Reserve: Kurt Mills, A New Sovereignty? Human Rights in the Emerging Global Order, Chapter 4, “Humanitarian Access and Intervention,” pp. 126-165

•The Responsibility to Protect: Report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, International Development and Research Centre, 2001 (also online)

•Online: Howard Tolley, “President Clinton’s Response to Kosovo,” Teaching Human Rights Online

•Gutman: pp. 136-138, 153-157, 179-84, 192-194, 312-320, 327-329

•Online: Interview with Michael Ignatieff on “Fresh Air,” National Public Radio (18 March 2003) (audio)

•Online: Ken Roth, “War in Iraq: Not a Humanitarian Intervention,” in Human Rights Watch, World Report 2004

•Reserve: Rüdiger Bittner, “Humanitarian Interventions are Wrong,” in Georg Meggle, ed., The Ethics of Humanitarian Interventions (Frankfurt: Ontos Verlag, 2004): 207-213

•Additional readings and resources:

•Nicholas J. Wheeler, Saving Strangers: Humanitarian Intervention in International Society (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000)

•HRQ: Tom J. Farer, “The Ethics of Intervention in Self-Determination Struggles,” Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 382-406

•Online: Human Rights Watch, “Darfur: Whose Responsibility to Protect,” in World Report 2005, http://hrw.org/wr2k5/darfur/index.htm

•Electronic: David Chandler, “The Responsibility to Protect? Imposing the ‘Liberal Peace,’” International Peacekeeping 11 (Spring 2004): 59-81

 

7.      Accountability I: amnesty, impunity, and truth commissions

How should we address systematic gross violations of human rights? One answer is to help a society find the “truth” of what happened during a particular period in its history so that it can move beyond it. In some cases there may be worries that forces from a previous regime may destabilize a post-conflict/democratic transition if they are threatened with punishment for their previous actions. Does the greater good of society outweigh letting human rights abusers go free? Are truth and justice irreconciliable?

•Electronic: Tristan Anne Borer, “Truth, Reconciliation and Justice,” Peace Review 11 (2 1999): 303-309

•HRQ: Audrey R. Chapman and Patrick Ball, “The Truth of Truth Commissions: Comparative Lessons from Haiti, South Africa, and Guatemala,” Human Rights Quarterly 23 (February 2001): 1-43

•HRQ: Tristan Anne Borer, “A Taxonomy of Victims and Perpetrators: Human Rights and Reconciliation in South Africa,”  Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 1088-1116

•Electronic: Peter Uvin and Charles Mironko, “Western and Local Approaches to Justice in Rwanda,” Global Governance 9 (Apr.-June 2003): 219-31

•Gutman: pp. 26-27

•Additional readings and resources:

•Online: Report of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

•Online: Transcripts and Policy Documents from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission

•Online: Truth Commission Project

•Online: Coverage of the Gacaca process in Rwanda by the Fondation Hirondelle

•HRQ: Joanna R. Quinn and Mark Freeman, “Lessons Learned: Practical Lessons from Inside the Truth Commissions of Guatemala and South Africa,” Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 1117-1149

•HRQ: Book review: Juan E. Méndez and Javier Mariezcurrena, “Unspeakable Truths,” Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 237-256

 

8.      Accountability II: genocide, war crimes tribunals, and universal jurisdiction

How does the international community address gross violations of human rights? Have the international courts that the UN has set up been successful? Do they provide justice?

•HRQ: Menno T. Kamminga, “Lessons Learned from the exercise of Universal Jurisdiction in Respect of Human Rights Offenses,” Human Rights Quarterly 23 (2001): 940-974

•Electronic: Christopher Rudolph, “Constructing an Atrocities Regime: The Politics of War Crimes Tribunals,” International Organization 55 (Summer 2001): 655-91

•Reserve: Kurt Mills and Anthony Lott, “From Rome to Darfur: Norms and Interests in US Policy Toward the International Criminal Court”

•Gutman: p. 222

 •Additional readings and resources:

•Online: International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

•Online: International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

•Online: International Criminal Court

•Online: Coalition for an International Criminal Court

•Online: International Center for Transitional Justice

•Online: ”Rape and Genocide in Rwanda: The ICTR’s Akayesu Verdict,” Teaching Human Rights Online, http://homepages.uc.edu/thro/rw/

•Online: “International Justice,” in Human Rights Watch World Report 2002

•HRQ: William A. Schabas, “The Relationship Between Truth Commissions and International Courts: The Case of Sierra Leone,” Human Rights Quarterly 25 (2003): 1035-1066

 

9.      The applicability of human rights during war

What constraints are there on the conduct of war by states? Do existing international law and institutions actually constrains states and other actors in armed conflict?

•Gutman: rest of book

•Online: ICRC, “International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law: Similarities and Differences,”

•Online: Human Rights Watch, "Legal Issues Arising from the War in Afghanistan and Related Anti-Terrorism Efforts" (October 2001)

•Additional readings and resources:

•Online: Laws of War, Human Rights Magazine

•Online: ICRC, The Geneva Conventions: the core of international humanitarian law

•Online: ICRC, “Special Issue: New Types of Conflicts,” International Review of the Red Cross, No. 849 (2003)

•Online: ICRC, “Theme: Detention,” International Review of the Red Cross, No. 857 (2005)

•Online: Human Rights and Armed Conflict, Human Rights Watch, World Report 2004

•Geoffrey Best, War & Law (Oxford: Clarendon Press,1994)

 

10.  Human rights in a globalised, post-cold war, post-9/11 world

Are human rights more or less relevant today as we transition from (or occupy simultaneously) a post-cold war world to a post-9/11 world? How does globalisation challenge (or strengthen) human rights? Should states be able to violate certain human rights in the name of national security? Can the “war on terror” be conducted without violating human rights? Is this last question relevant?

•Forsythe: Chapter 9, “The politics of liberalism in a realist world,” pp. 217-237

•Reserve: Kurt Mills, A New Sovereignty? Human Rights in the Emerging Global Order, Chapter 6, “Concluding Observations on the New Sovereignty,” pp. 187-195

•HRQ: Rhoda E. Howard-Hassman, “The Second Great Transformation: Human Rights leapfrogging in the Era of Globalization,” Human Rights Quarterly 27 (2005): 1-40

•HRQ: Rosemary Foot, “Human Rights and Counterterrorism in Global Governance: Reputation and Resistance, “ Global Governance 11 (July-Sept. 2005): 291-310

•Electronic: Kenneth Roth, Getting Away with Torture Global Governance 11 (July-Sept. 2005): 389-406

•Electronic: Mark Bowden, “The Dark Art of Interrogation,” The Atlantic Monthly (October 2003): 51-76 (also available online)

•Online: “The Question of Torture,” Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs” 1 June 2005

•Additional readings and resources:

•Online: Alan M. Dershowitz, “Is there a Toturous Road to Justice?” Los Angeles Times (8 November 2001)

•Online: Sanford Levinson, “The Debate on Torture: War Against Virtual States” Dissent (Summer 2003)

•Online: Henry Shue, “Response to Sanford Levinson” Dissent (Summer 2003)

•Online: “The Ethics of Torture,” PBS (20 February 2004)

•Online: Steve Crawshaw, “Not Worth the Paper They’re Written On,” The Independent (13 August 2005)