Evolution of International Human Rights

Paul Gordon Lauren is Regents Professor at the University of Montana. He is the author of a number of books, including the award-winning Power and Prejudice: The Politics and Diplomacy of Racial Discrimination.

• AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Visions and Visionaries1. My Brother's and Sister's Keeper: Visions and the Origins of Human RightsReligious VisionsPhilosophical VisionsTraditional Practices and Ideas of a Very Different SortVisions-and Reality2. To Protect Humanity and Defend Justice: Early International EffortsTo Free the EnslavedTo Assist the ExploitedTo Care for the WoundedTo Protect the Persecuted3. Entering the Twentieth Century: Visions, War, Revolutions, and PeacemakingModernization, Internationalization, and Visions of RightsWar, Revolutions, and RightsPeacemaking and Human RightsThe Covenant: Rights Proclaimed and Rights Rejected4. Opportunities and Challenges: Visions and Rights Between the WarsA Flourishing of VisionsOpportunities for New DeparturesPersistent Problems and ChallengesThe Gathering Storm5. A "People's War": The Crusade of World War IIWar, Genocide, and Self-ReflectionsCrusaders, Visions, and ProposalsHuman Rights Versus National Sovereignty in Postwar PlanningOpposition from the Great Powers6. A "People's Peace": Peace and a Charter with Human RightsInsisting on a Peace with RightsPolitics and Diplomacy at the San Francisco ConferenceThe Charter of the United NationsDiffering Reactions and Assessments7. Proclaiming a Vision: The Universal Declaration of Human RightsThe Revolution BeginsChallenging Questions of PhilosophyDifficult Problems of PoliticsThe Universal Declaration of Human Rights8. Transforming Visions into Reality: The First Fifty Years of the Universal DeclarationExtending Rights and Setting StandardsProtecting Rights Through ImplementationPromoting RightsExpanding Activities and Enhancing Rights9. The Continuing EvolutionInternational Law, the Responsibility to Protect, and Challenges to SovereigntyGlobalization, Development, Terrorism-and TortureNew Human Rights Institutions and OrganizationsTechnology and Political Will10. Toward the FutureThe Nature and Power of VisionsPeople of Vision and ActionForces and Events of ConsequenceProcess, Politics, and PerspectiveThe Universal Declaration of Human RightsNotesSelected BibliographyIndexAbout the Author

"Perhaps the most significant contribution to the historiography of human rights. . . . [A] beautiful historical tapestry . . . [in which] colorful threads converge to create complications that only an astute scholar-author could sift through without being lost in analytical mazes or leaving behind bewildered readers." (Human Rights Quarterly) "Beautifully written and meticulously researched history of the idea of human rights. . . . To read in this book how far we have come and how far we still have to go is an inspiration to the activist and a challenge to the idle." (American Journal of International Law) "An indispensable reference source for scholars and students of human rights." (Political Science Quarterly) "Paul Gordon Lauren has skillfully combined a detailed history of the legal documents with the political, philosophical, and social context in which they developed." (American Historical Review)