Ethics in Action

Daniel A. Bell is a professor in the Department of Philosophy at Tsinghua University in Beijing. He has held fellowships at Stanford's Center for Advanced study in the Behavioral Sciences and Princeton University Center of Human Values. His books include Beyond Liberal Democracy: Political Thinking for an East Asian Context (Princeton University Press 2006), East Meets West: Human Rights and Democracy in East Asia (Princeton University Press 2000) and Communitarianism and Its Critics (Oxford University Press 1993). Jean-Marc Coicaud heads the UNU Office at the United Nations in New York. Dr Coicaud was Senior Academic Officer in the Peace and Governance Programme at UNU in Tokyo from 1996 to 2003. Before joining UNU, he served in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General as a speechwriter for Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali. A former fellow at Harvard University Center for International Affairs and Harvard Law School, Coicaud has held appointments as Cultural Attaché with the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and as Legislative Aide with the European Parliament (Financial Committee).

• Introduction: reflection on dialogues between practitioners and theorists of human rights Daniel A. Bell; Part I. Northern INGOs and Southern Aid Recipients: The Challenge of Unequal Power: 1. The pornography of poverty: a cautionary fundraising tale Bette Plewes; 2. An imperfect process: funding human rights - a case study Mona Younis; 3. Transformational development as the key to housing rights Steven Weir; 4. Human rights INGOs, the North/South Gap: the challenge of normative and empirical learning Bonny Ibhawoh; Part II. INGOs and Governments: The Challenge of Dealing with States that Restrict the Activities of INGOs: 5. Dilemmas facing INGOs in coalition-occupied Iraq Lyal Sunga; 6. Human rights in action: supporting human rights work in authoritarian countries Birgit Lindsnaes, Hans-Otto Sano and Hatla Thelle; 7. Driving without a map: implementing legal projects in China aimed at improving human rights Sophia Woodman; 8. Normative compliance and hard bargaining: China's strategies and tactics in response to International Human Rights criticism Sun Zhe; Part III. INGOs and Economic Rights: The Challenge of Dealing with Global Poverty: 9. Defending economic, social and cultural rights: practical issues faced by an International Human Rights Organization Kenneth Roth; 10. Thinking through social and economic rights Neera Chandhoke; 11. Amnesty International and economic, social and cultural rights Curt Goering; 12. Moral priorities for International Human Rights NGOs Thomas W. Pogge; 13. The problem of doing good in a world that isn't: reflections on the ethical challenges facing INGOs Joseph H. Carens; Conclusion: International NGOs as collective mobilization of transnational solidarity: implications for human rights at the United Nations Jean-Marc Coicaud.

'Ethics in Action fills an important gap in the growing literature on the contributions that INGOs make to the international system, and the editors deserve praise for taking on such an important, yet often neglected, subject.' H-Net Reviews