Human Rights and the Ethics of Globalization

Daniel E. Lee is Professor of Ethics and director of the Center for the Study of Ethics at Augustana College, Rock Island, Illinois. He is the author of numerous articles and books, including Hope Is Where We Least Expect to Find It (1993), Generations and the Challenge of Justice (1996), Navigating Right and Wrong (2002) and Freedom vs Intervention (2005). He has also published op-ed pieces in USA Today, the Chicago Tribune and other newspapers and is a published poet and author of fiction. Elizabeth J. Lee is Assistant Federal Public Defender in Houston, Texas. She received her JD from Northwestern University School of Law and served as a clerk at the Center for International Human Rights there. She also clerked for Arizona Supreme Court Justice Michael D. Ryan and has published an article in the Global Studies Journal.

• Prologue; Part I. Philosophical Foundations: 1. Defining human rights in a coherent manner; 2. Near neighbors, distant neighbors and the ethics of globalization; 3. Ethical guidelines for business in an age of globalization; Part II. Practical Applications: 4. Human rights and the ethics of investment in China; 5. Liberia and Firestone: a case study; 6. Free trade, fair trade, and coffee farmers in Ethiopia; 7. Maquiladoras: exploitation, economic opportunity or both?; Part III. The Challenge of Enforcement: 8. Possibilities and problems; 9. Human rights, US multinational corporations and the Alien Tort Claims Act; Epilogue.

'Dan and Elizabeth Lee have written a concise, courageous, and creative book. Richly philosophical, they dare to go beyond the philosopher's ruminations and provide frameworks, guidance, and answers for some of today's most difficult issues in corporate responsibility. This is one of the best books in business ethics I've read in years!' Timothy Fort, Institute for Corporate Responsibility and George Washington University School of Business