Human Rights under State Socialism

1984 ◽  
Vol 32 (3) ◽  
pp. 349-368 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lane
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Interest Groups ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
Russian Culture ◽  
Collective Rights ◽  
Normative Approach ◽  
The Third ◽  
The One

The paper is in four parts. The first outlines the debate that has occurred in the West about whether human rights, and about what human rights, are desirable and possible in socialist states. In the second it is contended that the normative approach to rights in socialist states has been influenced but not determined by the theory and practice of the USSR. Human rights under Marxism–Leninism are ambiguously defined: there is an unresolved tension between individual (and group) rights, on the one hand, and class and collective rights on the other. Socialist states, it is claimed, have different units, types of claims and priorities of rights. In the third section, it is argued that the Soviet model of rights has a particular correspondence with Russian culture. Its impact on other socialist countries (Poland is considered, as an illustration) depends on the internal social structure (the strength of interest groups) and the degree of legitimacy of the state. Finally, some prognostications are offered concerning the dynamics and likely developments of rights claims under socialism.

On the Concept of Freedom in the West

2020 ◽  
pp. 37-42
Author(s):  
Rached Ghannouchi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Free Agent ◽  
The West ◽  
Power Domination ◽  
New Class ◽  
Determining Factors ◽  
The One ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Church

This chapter examines the Western concept of freedom. It links this concept to human rights and expounds on its history in the West. Here, the origin of the various declarations of human rights is associated with the historical rise of the bourgeoisie and, fundamentally, with the struggle that took place between the new class of merchants and industry leaders on the one hand and the kings, feudal lords, and the church on the other. In fact, the chapter argues that to conceive of the free agent as a person without any outside pressure underlines a negative and mechanical definition of individual freedoms. It asserts that the balance of powers—political power, domination, and wealth—are the true determining factors of rights and freedoms in the West. Despite these, the chapter stresses that the development of human rights is indeed significant; it is only that such a legacy fails to shine through from within Western political and economic structures as well as the international arena.

Why the West is Perceived as Being Unworthy of Cooperation

2010 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 594-613 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gorik Ooms
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social System ◽  
Natural Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
The West ◽  
The Social ◽  
Natural Sense ◽  
The One ◽  
Sense Of Justice ◽  
In Virtue Of

Natural selection generated a natural sense of justice. This natural sense of justice created a set of natural rights; rights humans accorded to each other in virtue of being members of the same tribe. Sharing the responsibility for natural rights between all members of the same tribe allowed humans to take advantage of all opportunities for cooperation. Human rights are the present day political emanation of natural rights. Theoretically, human rights are accorded by all humans to all humans in virtue of being humans; however, the idea that the corresponding responsibility is now shared among all humans is not broadly accepted. The natural sense of justice creates an ambiguity: on the one hand humans consider the nation they belong to as the social system that should guarantee their human rights (and likewise they do not consider themselves as having responsibility for the human rights of inhabitants of other nations); on the other hand, as cooperation between nations intensifies, expectations of global mutual responsibility increase as well.

Reversing defeat through non-violent power

2009 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 566-575 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Hijab
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
State Solution ◽  
The Political ◽  
The West ◽  
Palestine Liberation Organization ◽  
The Third ◽  
Democratic State ◽  
West Bank And Gaza ◽  
The One ◽  
State Of Israel

When the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) decided to embark on the two-state political platform in 1974, this constituted tacit recognition of the reality of the state of Israel in Palestine within the Green Line. The PLO's shift was also effectively an admission of defeat for the previous PLO programme that called for a secular, democratic state throughout all of Palestine. Today, advocates of the one-state solution argue that the two-state solution is no longer possible due to the realities Israel has created on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza. In other words, the political programme launched by the PLO in 1974 has effectively been defeated. The growing one-state movement is, thus, the third time Palestinians are reacting to Israel's defeat of Palestinian attempts to obtain their human rights. It is against this background that this paper attempts to address three questions: Why has the two-state political programme not been achieved?; What sources of non-violent power could potentially realize and effect Palestinian human rights?; and What is the single most important strategy of which no Palestinian political programme should ever lose sight?

The Search for a Future Global Human Rights Agenda

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-66
Author(s):  
Peter Herrmann
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Building Maintenance ◽  
Dead End ◽  
The One

Human rights debates seem to be a little bit in a dead end: on the one hand, taken for granted is defined diffusion of human rights; on the other there seems to be in permanent confrontation two incompatible positions, each of them suggesting the other side is in breach of the rules. One is the position that emphasizes the societal dimension of rights; on the other camp, we find those striving for what may be seen as a civic liberty interpretation This article shows that both positions miss a crucial challenge: both human rights theory and practice must be refocused and consider human rights as part of the process of society building, maintenance, and change.

Autonomy, Abortion and Pain Criteria

2011 ◽  
pp. 124-141
Author(s):  
Hasan Atilla Güngör
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
Scientific Debate ◽  
Abortion Debate ◽  
The Core ◽  
The One

Pro-life and pro-choice groups are the main actors in the current abortion debate. On the one hand, the defenders of women’s rights consider the issue as a matter of freedom and argue against bans on abortion practice. On the other hand, the fetal rights defenders are absolutely against abortion in any case and consider abortion a method of killing an innocent human being. Both sides use the scientific developments to influence public opinion. The core of this semi-scientific debate today depends on the question “When does human life begin?” Participants aspire to shape the law concerning abortion according to their answer to this question. Yet, this approach leads to deadlocks in theory and practice, because it is impossible to accept the legal personality of the fetus or to remove all the bans on abortion. However, it may be possible to find a solution within the legal system itself by using scientific knowledge, but without establishing it on a human “rights” base. This paper argues that using pain as a criterion may be a promising point of compromise.

scholarly journals Third Party Rights in Authorization by Ratification at the PICC, PECL and Iranian Law

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (6) ◽  
pp. 137
Author(s):  
Ahmed Heidari ◽  
Seyed Hekmatollah Askari
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Other ◽  
Third Party ◽  
The Third ◽  
Iranian Law ◽  
Legal Restrictions ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Domestic Law

Agency refers to a contract whereby a person selects another one to do his affairs. It is obvious that agency can be fulfilled in different ways, including explicit authorization and authorization by ratification. Authorization by ratification is ineffective for some contracts and it faces challenges in practice, because it follows the fulfillment of two rights, one the principal’s right for ratification, and the other the third-party’s right to be free from the obligations of an ineffective contract. This article has dealt with the positions of two important International Instrument of Human Rights as well as that of Iran’s domestic law regarding the scope of the use of ratification right by the principal and the owner of the authority right on the one hand and the rights of a third party on the other. It seeks to answer the question whether the principal has the right of ratification in any way, or has some legal restrictions? And if there are some limits to the principal’s right and access to such uncertainties can lead to further compatibility of Iranian law with International Instrument of Human Rights, based on which principles and rules can one establish a relative balance between the parties?

scholarly journals THE HUMAN RIGHTS IN ISLAM (The Study of Al-Muwafaqat by Imam Al-Syathibi)

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Moch. Cahyo Sucipto
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Common Good ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western Philosophy ◽  
The West ◽  
Religious Texts ◽  
The Common Good ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Common

The zhahiriyyah school is a school that stores certain texts by forgetting the global objectives of sharia. Among them there are those who are more dominant with the nature of religion, and among them there are those who are dominant in the nature of politics, even though they are all the same in terms of understanding literalism. The Zhahiriyya have been exaggerated in extracting text literalism to bring them to the strange understanding rejected by religion and reason. Zahiriyyah characteristics literal understanding and interpretation in understanding and interpreting texts without seeing things hidden in them, both in illat form and intentions that can be known by profound researchers: 1) Difficult and difficult; 2) Arrogant towards their opinions; 3) Don't accept different people; 4) Kafir people who have different opinions; 5) Whatever slander. The Bathiniyyah school is the opposite of the forgotten zhahiriyah school, even deliberately refusing, certain texts. This flow claims that they see the common good and global goals. This flow dares to oppose religious texts brought by the revelation ma`sum, both the Qur'an or al-Sunnah. They reject the text without caring, and freeze it without knowledge and guidance unless they follow the nature of themselves or others who want to make slander against the teachings of truth revealed by God. When they annulled religious texts in the name of human benefits. They claim that from these spies they are not out of the Shari'ah, they defend their intentions and maintain their spirit and substance, even though they do not maintain symbols and forms. Characteristics of the divine; 1) Superficial understanding of sharia `ah; 2) Dare to think without knowledge; 3) Follow westward. The third characteristic of the bathiniyyah school is to follow the other, west, both capitalism, liberalism or marix, all born in the west. From this they want to impose Western philosophy on the life, western views of religion, the concept of western scularism, and western, social, political, linguistic, and cultural legal theories for us. Some of them said, "we have to eat when they eat, dress when they are dressed, write when they write

scholarly journals Taking Human Rights Not Too Seriously

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 31-64
Author(s):  
Piotr Mazurkiewicz
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Social Contract ◽  
Catholic Social Teaching ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Teaching ◽  
Human Right ◽  
The West ◽  
The One ◽  
The Church

The doctrine of human rights is undergoing a difficult test today. On the one hand, we are dealing with a recurring question about its universality. Is it only an expression of Western anthropological sensitivity and should therefore be observed only in the West, or does it refer to human nature as it is and should therefore be observed everywhere, including in Islamic civilisation? On the other hand, secularisation detaches the doctrine from its theistic sources, resulting in its positivisation. Human rights in this version would only be the result of agreements between people and, therefore, like any other social contract, could be freely changed or reinterpreted. An example of such a reinterpretation of the doctrine is the proposal to recognise abortion as a human right. The author also addresses these issues from the position of Catholic social teaching and raises the question of the consequences of these changes for the Church and its official absolute or conditional support for the doctrine.

Óscar Romero and the Politics of Sainthood

2011 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 265-291
Author(s):  
Manuel A. Vasquez ◽  
Anna L. Peterson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil War ◽  
El Salvador ◽  
The Other ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Holy See ◽  
The Poor ◽  
The Face ◽  
Crisis Of Modernity ◽  
The One

In this article, we explore the debates surrounding the proposed canonization of Archbishop Oscar Romero, an outspoken defender of human rights and the poor during the civil war in El Salvador, who was assassinated in March 1980 by paramilitary death squads while saying Mass. More specifically, we examine the tension between, on the one hand, local and popular understandings of Romero’s life and legacy and, on the other hand, transnational and institutional interpretations. We argue that the reluctance of the Vatican to advance Romero’s canonization process has to do with the need to domesticate and “privatize” his image. This depoliticization of Romero’s work and teachings is a part of a larger agenda of neo-Romanization, an attempt by the Holy See to redeploy a post-colonial and transnational Catholic regime in the face of the crisis of modernity and the advent of postmodern relativism. This redeployment is based on the control of local religious expressions, particularly those that advocate for a more participatory church, which have proliferated with contemporary globalization

Ummah’s Rights or Human Rights? Universalism, Individualism, and Islamic Ethics in the Twenty-first Century

2010 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Luisa Frick
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
First Century ◽  
The Other ◽  
Moral Code ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Islamic Ethics ◽  
Specific Content ◽  
Societal Needs ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual

Against the background of the trend of Islamizing human rights on the one hand, as well as increasing skepticism about the compatibility of Islam and human rights on the other, I intend to analyze the potential of Islamic ethics to meet the requirements for vitalizing the idea of human rights. I will argue that the compatibility of Islam and human rights cannot be determined merely on the basis of comparing the specific content of the Islamic moral code(s) with the rights stipulated in the International Bill of Rights, but by scanning (different conceptions of) Islamic ethics for the two indispensable formal prerequisites of any human rights conception: the principle of universalism (i.e., normative equality) and individualism (i.e., the individual enjoyment of rights). In contrast to many contemporary (political) attempts to reconcile Islam and human rights due to urgent (global) societal needs, this contribution is solely committed to philosophical reasoning. Its guiding questions are “What are the conditions for deriving both universalism and individualism from Islamic ethics?” and “What axiological axioms have to be faded out or reorganized hierarchically in return?”

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