Human rights and the social construction of sovereignty

2001 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 519-538 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Reus-Smit
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Construction ◽  
International Society ◽  
Communicative Action ◽  
International System ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
State Action ◽  
The Social

Sovereignty and human rights are generally considered separate, mutually contradictory regimes in international society. This article takes issue with this conventional assumption, and argues that only by treating sovereignty and human rights as two normative elements of a single, inherently contradictory modern discourse about legitimate statehood and rightful state action can we explain key moments in the expansion of the international system during the twentieth century. After developing a constructivist argument about communicative action, norm formation and sovereignty, the article focuses on post-1945 decolonization, showing how ‘first wave’ post-colonial states played a crucial role in constructing the ‘international bill of rights’, how they invoked those rights to justify the norm of self-determination, and how this norm in turn licensed the proliferation of new sovereign states in Asia and elsewhere.

6. The English School

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Dunne
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Society ◽  
North American ◽  
Social Order ◽  
International System ◽  
World Society ◽  
English School ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
The Social

This chapter examines the main assumptions of the English school, the principal alternative to mainstream North American theorizations of International Relations. It first provides an overview of what the English school is and how it emerged before discussing its methodology as well as its master-concept of international society. It then considers three concepts that are the primary theoretical contribution of the English school: the social order established by states and embodied in the activities of practitioners must be understood alongside the dynamics of the international system and world society. The chapter proceeds by exploring the English school's position on issue of human rights and its implications for justice in international relations.

6. The English School

2020 ◽  
pp. 107-128
Author(s):  
Tim Dunne
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Society ◽  
North American ◽  
Social Order ◽  
International System ◽  
World Society ◽  
English School ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
The Social

This chapter examines the main assumptions of the English school, the principal alternative to mainstream North American theorizations of International Relations. It first provides an overview of what the English school is and how it emerged before discussing its methodology as well as its master-concept of international society. It then considers three concepts that are the primary theoretical contribution of the English school: the social order established by states and embodied in the activities of practitioners must be understood alongside the dynamics of the international system and world society. The chapter proceeds by exploring the English school’s position on the issue of human rights and its implications for justice in international relations.

scholarly journals The hierarchical society: the politics of self-determination and the constitution of new states after 1919

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 372-396
Author(s):  
Maja Spanu
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Society ◽  
International System ◽  
World Politics ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
World War ◽  
New States ◽  
History Of

International Relations scholarship disconnects the history of the so-called expansion of international society from the presence of hierarchies within it. In contrast, this article argues that these developments may in fact be premised on hierarchical arrangements whereby new states are subject to international tutelage as the price of acceptance to international society. It shows that hierarchies within international society are deeply entrenched with the politics of self-determination as international society expands. I substantiate this argument with primary and secondary material on the Minority Treaty provisions imposed on the new states in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe admitted to the League of Nations after World War I. The implications of this claim for International Relations scholarship are twofold. First, my argument contributes to debates on the making of the international system of states by showing that the process of expansion of international society is premised on hierarchy, among and within states. Second, it speaks to the growing body of scholarship on hierarchy in world politics by historicising where hierarchies come from, examining how diverse hierarchies are nested and intersect, and revealing how different actors navigate these hierarchies.

Part III The Social Dimension, 14 Human Rights

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muchlinski Peter T
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Multinational Enterprises ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
State Action ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Council ◽  
The Social ◽  
Corporate Social

This chapter evaluates another element of corporate social responsibility (CSR) applicable to multinational enterprises (MNEs): human rights. Historically, human rights have been used by corporations to protect their vital interests against state action, leading to human/civil rights protections for corporations. The chapter focuses on how far MNEs, and other business actors, should be responsible for human rights violations. This has been significantly influenced by the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), endorsed in June of 2011 by the UN Human Rights Council, which implement the UN ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ framework. The UNGPs have created a framework for business and human rights that covers three pillars: the state duty to protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights and access to remedy. The chapter then traces the development of concern for business and human rights, and discusses the justifications for holding businesses accountable for human rights violations, the establishment of business and human rights on the agenda of the UN and the principal areas in which business violations of human rights arise.

The Sen Conception of Development and Contemporary International Law Discourse: Some Parallels

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhupinder Chimni
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Technological Progress ◽  
International System ◽  
Social Constraints ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Right To Development ◽  
The Social ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Right

The Sen conception of `development as freedom' represents a departure from previous approaches to development that focused merely on growth rates or technological progress. Sen however fails to adequately address the social constraints that inhibit the realization of the goal of `development as freedom.' There is an interesting parallel here with developments in contemporary international law. While contemporary international law incorporates the idea of `development as freedom' in international human rights instruments, in particular the Declaration on the Right to Development, mainstream international law scholarship has like Sen failed to indicate the constraints in the international system that prevent its attainment. Since Sen is today among the foremost thinkers on the idea of development reviewing the parallels between his conception of development and mainstream international law scholarship is helpful as it offers insights into the limits of both.

Empathetic British feminists at the crossroads of colonialism and self-determination

2019 ◽  
Vol 39 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 84-97
Author(s):  
Rebecca Cardone
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Transnational Activism ◽  
Global Integration ◽  
Power Structures ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Race And Class

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore women’s resistance to the religion of civilising missions abroad through empathetic feminism. Design/methodology/approach Conceptually, this paper explores three thematic tools for transnational activism in the interwar period: empathy for silent history, intersectionality of race and class, and empowerment through advocacy within power structures. With the theoretical backdrop of Winifred Holtby’s activism inspired by the philosophy of Mary Wollstonecraft, this research compares the political involvement of Frances Emily Newton to Blanche Elizabeth Campbell Dugdale, and how their transnational activism contributed to post-colonial self-determination and the convolution of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict in the rise of the twentieth century nation-state. Findings These three feminists provided alternative narratives of human rights activism during the first wave of British feminism that both enabled transnational activism and planted seeds for empowering self-determination amidst colonial mandates and rising nationalism. Practical implications These women worked at the dovetail of colonialism and self-determination towards the twentieth century nation-state, and as the twenty-first century evolves with greater global integration and interconnectivity, imaginative insight in the transnational context evokes greater opportunities for empathy and compassion across intersectional identities, which in effect enables the mobilisation of positionality to confront structural violence perpetuating silenced voices. Originality/value By contextually evaluating transnational activism in a narrative of nuanced complexities, this research exudes opportunities for propagating universal human rights while maintaining the sensitivity to post-colonial sentiment for empowerment with the support of transnational networks.

scholarly journals The principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples within the system of the fundamental principles of international law

2021 ◽  
pp. 39-53
Author(s):  
Azer Kagraman Ogly Kagramanov
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International System ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Legal Concept ◽  
Stage Of Development ◽  
Jus Cogens ◽  
Multiple Experts

The subject of this research is the place and role of the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples within the system of the fundamental principles of international law. Analysis is conducted  on the basic questions of the theory of international law – correlation between the principle of self-determination with other peremptory norms (jus cogens) and moral-ethical categories. Special attention is given to the problem of building a hierarchy of the fundamental principles of international law. A bias towards one of them leads to the disruption of the international system and order, and any attempts to extract a single link out of closely related principles of the international law are doomed to fail. The conclusion is drawn that multiple experts in international law try to build the system by extracting key link, which raises serious doubts. The author believes that all the principles of international law are interrelated and equal. The emerged at the turn of the XX – XXI centuries international legal concept of the “Responsibility to Protect” is of crucial importance. The concept interacts with the principle of respect for the human rights. The author concludes that universalization of human rights at the current stage of development of the international law can reveal the new aspects of the problems of state sovereignty and the right to self-determination. The author warns against the attempts to universalize human rights by giving priority, along with other principles. The author follows the logic of correlation of the principle of self-determination with other fundamental principles of international law such as: nonintervention in the internal affairs and non-use of force or threat of force, sovereignty, peaceful settlement of disputes by all means known to international law, cooperation between states and diligent discharge of obligations in accordance with the international law underlie the solution to the problem of self-determination; if various aspects of this problem extend beyond a single state, then acquire international scale.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document