Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice

Jack Donnelly is Andrew Mellon Professor and John Evans Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. His other books include International Human Rights and Realism in International Relations.

• Preface to the Third EditionIntroductionPart I. Toward a Theory of Human Rights1. The Concept of Human RightsHow Rights WorkSpecial Features of Human RightsHuman Nature and Human RightsHuman Rights and Related PracticesAnalytic and Substantive TheoriesThe Failure of Foundational AppealsCoping with Contentious Foundations2. The Universal Declaration ModelThe Universal DeclarationThe Universal Declaration ModelHuman Dignity and Human RightsIndividual RightsInterdependence and IndivisibilityThe State and International Human RightsRespecting, Protecting, and Providing Human RightsRealizing Human Rights and Human Dignity3. Economic Rights and Group RightsThe Status of Economic and Social RightsGroup Rights and Human Rights4. Equal Concern and RespectHegemony and Settled NormsAn Overlapping Consensus on International Human RightsMoral Theory, Political Theory, and Human RightsEqual Concern and RespectToward a Liberal Theory of Human RightsConsensus: Overlapping but BoundedPart II. The Universality and Relativity of Human Rights5. A Brief History of Human RightsPolitics and Justice in the Premodern Non-Western WorldThe Premodern WestThe Modern Invention of Human RightsThe American and French RevolutionsApproaching the Universal DeclarationExpanding the Subjects and Substance of Human Rights6. The Relative Universality of Human Rights"Universal" and "Relative"The Universality of Internationally Recognized Human RightsThree Levels of Universality and ParticularityRelative Universality: A Multidimensional Perspective7. Universality in a World of ParticularitiesCulture and the Relativity of Human RightsAdvocating Universality in a World of ParticularitiesPart III. Human Rights and Human Dignity8. Dignity: Particularistic and Universalistic Conceptions in the WestDignitas: The Roman Roots of DignityBiblical Conceptions: Kavod and Imago DeiKantRights and Dignity in the WestDignity and the Foundations of Human Rights9. Humanity, Dignity, and Politics in Confucian ChinaCosmology and EthicsConfucians and the Early Empires“Neo-Confucianism” and Song Imperial RuleTwentieth-Century Encounters with “Rights”Human Rights and Asian Values10. Humans and Society in Hindu South AsiaCosmologySocial PhilosophyCasteHindu UniversalismOpposition to Caste DiscriminationHinduism and Human Rights in Contemporary IndiaPart IV. Human Rights and International Action11. International Human Rights RegimesThe Global Human Rights RegimePolitical Foundations of the Global RegimeRegional Human Rights RegimesSingle-Issue Human Rights RegimesAssessing Multilateral Human Rights MechanismsThe Evolution of Human Rights Regimes12. Human Rights and Foreign PolicyHuman Rights and the National InterestInternational Human Rights and National IdentityMeans and Mechanisms of Bilateral ActionThe Aims of Human Rights PolicyForeign Policy and Human Rights PolicyThe Limits of International ActionAppendix: Arguments against International Human Rights PoliciesPart V. Contemporary Issues13. Human Rights, Democracy, and DevelopmentThe Contemporary Language of LegitimacyDefining DemocracyDemocracy and Human RightsDefining DevelopmentDevelopment-Rights TradeoffsDevelopment and Civil and Political RightsMarkets and Economic and Social RightsThe Liberal Democratic Welfare State14. The West and Economic and Social RightsThe Universal Declaration of Human RightsDomestic Western PracticeThe International Human Rights CovenantsFunctional and Regional OrganizationsFurther Evidence of Western SupportUnderstanding the Sources of the MythWhy Does It Matter?15. Humanitarian Intervention against GenocideIntervention and International LawHumanitarian Intervention and International LawThe Moral Standing of the StatePolitics, Partisanship, and International OrderChanging Conceptions of Security and SovereigntyJustifying the Anti-genocide NormChanging Legal Practices“Justifying” Humanitarian InterventionMixed Motives and ConsistencyPolitics and the Authority to InterveneJudging the Kosovo InterventionDarfur and the Future of Humanitarian Intervention16. Nondiscrimination for All: The Case of Sexual MinoritiesThe Right to NondiscriminationNondiscrimination and Political StruggleDiscrimination against Sexual MinoritiesNature, (Im)morality, and Public MoralsStrategies for InclusionPaths of Incremental ChangeReferencesIndex

Every once in a while a book appears that treats the leading issues of a subject in such a clear and challenging manner that it becomes central to understanding that subject. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice is just such a book. Donnelly's interpretations are clear and argued with zest.(American Political Science Review) This wide-ranging book looks at all aspects of human rights, drawing on political theory, sociology, and international relations as well as international law.(Foreign Affairs) What Donnelly does better than anyone else is to lay before the reader a coherent conceptual framework for an understanding of international human rights as an operative part of international life. The book remains at the top of any bibliography of indispensable books dealing with human rights.(Human Rights & Human Welfare)