Human Rights as an Ideology? Obstacles and Benefits

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea David
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Sociological Inquiry ◽  
Liberal Peace ◽  
Accepted Practice ◽  
Blind Spots ◽  
Successes And Failures

Sociology has an important part to play in understanding human rights. In this article, I trace obstacles within sociology to theoretically conceptualize human rights as an ideology. These impediments, I suggest, demonstrate the need to recognize the blind spots within sociological research. However, instead of trying to persuade readers why human rights qualifies as an ideology, I attempt to demonstrate why it is beneficial for sociological inquiry to conceptualize human rights as an ideology. Instead of following the widely accepted practice of understanding human rights as a desirable set of values designed to promote a liberal peace, I propose conceptualizing human rights as an ideology which, through its institutionalization, produces coercive organizational and doctrine power. The question of whether its organizational and doctrine power is capable of value penetration in micro-solidarity groups opens up a new prism through which sociologists can assess the successes and failures of human rights ideology on the ground.

scholarly journals BEING THE CHANGE: SOCIAL JUSTICE IN EXTERNSHIP PROGRAM EVALUATION

2017 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 45
Author(s):  
Katie Spillane
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Program Evaluation ◽  
Power Distribution ◽  
Student Outcomes ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Value Systems ◽  
Justice Sociale ◽  
The World ◽  
Blind Spots

Around the globe, clinical legal education [CLE] narratives resonate with a desire to promote social justice and the vindication of human rights. Yet scholarship exploring CLE’s accomplishment of these aims is scant and generally focuses only on student outcomes. This literature appears to be based not on theory and results, but hope: the hope that changed students will change the world. To invest on hope alone is unwise, particularly when all stakeholders face financially precarious times. In this context, this article argues that the existing focus on student outcomes is disproportionate and unhelpful. The existing narrow focus on student outcomes marginalizes other stakeholders and creates significant blind spots in program evaluation. This article proposes a broader analysis that would ask what value systems and power distribution CLE programs themselves create or reinforce, focusing on both the immediate impact of CLE programming and reinforcing the values human rights education seeks to inculcate by incorporating these into the structure of CLE programs themselves. Aux quatre coins du monde, le discours sur l’enseignement juridique clinique est empreint d’une soif de promouvoir la justice sociale et de défendre les droits de la personne. Pourtant, les travaux des universitaires portant sur l’atteinte de ces objectifs sont rares et se concentrent généralement sur les résultats touchant les étudiants. Ces écrits semblent fondés non pas sur des théories et des résultats mais sur l’espoir : l’espoir que des étudiants transformés transformeront le monde. Miser sur l’espoir seul est une erreur, surtout quand tous les intervenants sont aux prises avec la précarité financière. Dans ce contexte, l’auteure de cet article soutient que les efforts actuels ciblés sur les résultats touchant les étudiants sont disproportionnés et inutiles. Ce ciblage étroit marginalise les autres intervenants et crée de gros angles morts dans l’évaluation des programmes. Dans son article, l’auteure propose une analyse élargie qui pose la question de savoir quels systèmes de valeurs et quelle répartition des pouvoirs les programmes d’enseignement juridique clinique créent ou renforcent, l’accent étant mis sur les répercussions immédiates de ces programmes et sur le renforcement des valeurs que l’éducation aux droits de la personne humaine semble inculquer par l’intégration de ces valeurs dans la structure même des programmes en question.

scholarly journals State of development and changes to cultural policies in the amalgamated territorial communities of Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (8) ◽  
pp. 59-69
Author(s):  
Bohdana Huriy
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Community Resources ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
The Public ◽  
Grant Programs ◽  
Cultural Policies ◽  
Public Organisations ◽  
Human Rights Based Approach

In the article, we analysed the state of development of cultural policies in Amalgamated Territorial Communities (ATC) of Ukraine as well as the changes that have taken place in the cultural area in Ukraine. This was due to the activities of international grant programs, foundations and legislative organizations. We described the local situation in the ATC and detected their main cultural policies' problems. We also described the main stages of forming the international grant programs' sector, foundations and donors in the aforementioned area. We have identified the most active grant programs which operate in Ukraine. We defined that their activity supports discussion about the role of the culture, influences the processes of transformation and modernization of culture, and provides the possibilities for activists and specialists from the public sector to directly and transparently influence and advocate the cultural changes. The article presented results of the sociological research "The human rights-based approach to the content and implementation of cultural policies in Ukraine at ATC level". It was conducted with representatives of the "DOBRE" program, USAID, the Ukrainian Cultural Foundation, «U-LEAD with Europe», the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine, and four regional representatives’ non-public organisations. We concluded that the international grant programs, foundations, and legislative organizations support the ATC in the forming and conducting development strategies and service delivery standards, transparently conducting their activities and financial accountability, supporting the community's involvement in the main processes and changing stereotypical approaches to understanding the needs of different population categories in Ukraine's ATC. During the four years of their activity, there has been significant development of communities in terms of infrastructure and human development and community resources. In particular, it is connected with Equality and Human Rights principles, the involvement of all community actors in the processes taking place in society, and constant feedback from the public.

Confronting past gross human rights violations in Ethiopia: Taking stock of the Reconciliation Commission

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-579
Author(s):  
Marshet Tessema ◽  
Markos Debebe Belay
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Party ◽  
Prime Minister ◽  
The Political ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
Armed Struggle ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Ruling Party ◽  
Blind Spots

It is a trite fact that in the recent past decades, Ethiopia has been under a one-party dictatorship. The ruling political party encountered protracted civil protest and at times, an armed struggle. This has led to the overthrow of former party leaders and the dictatorship. The protracted protest against the party has led to change from within the ruling party. Thus, with the coming to power of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, there has been a widespread change in the political and legal landscape. Ethiopia has adopted various mechanisms including establishing a reconciliation commission as a means to reckon with legacies of a repressive past. This article takes stock of the major problematic areas of the Ethiopian Reconciliation Commission establishment law, Proclamation 1102/2018, with the aim to propose measures to be taken to rectify its blind spots.

Post-withdrawal Prospects for Iraq’s ‘Ultra-minorities’

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas Al-Jeloo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Successes And Failures ◽  
The Way

The signing of Iraq's Transitional Administrative Law on 8 March 2004 ushered in a new, more pluralistic era for Iraq. It was now a ‘country of many nationalities’. In addition, all Iraqi citizens were equal in their rights ‘without regard to gender, sect, opinion, belief, nationality, religion, or origin’; ‘discrimination on the basis of gender, nationality, religion, or origin’ was prohibited. However, ‘ultra-minorities’ have been the subjects of sustained oppression and active persecution. This chapter explores the successes and failures with regard to Iraq's ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, referring especially to recent human rights reports, making for a valuable case study in the way contemporary states deal with their minority groups.

Action and Practice: Approaching Concepts of Sport Science from a Praxeological Perspective / Handeln und Praxis: Eine praxeologische Annäherung an sportwissenschaftliche Konzepte

2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Brümmer
Keyword(s):  
Sport Psychology ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Practical Action ◽  
Sport Science ◽  
Action Theories ◽  
Blind Spots ◽  
Human Kinetics

SummaryThe article aims at addressing a sport sociological research desideratum: the question of acting in sport. So far, this question has mainly been dealt with in human kinetics and sport psychology. Here, action theories refer to action as a rational-reflective and individual phenomenon whose cognitive and ideational foundations must be given particular attention. Recently, however, the focus has begun to be shifted to embodied, pre-reflective, and relational dimensions of action in these sub-disciplines of sport science. Similar reorientations can be observed in sociology, where the mentalism and individualism inherent in action theories is undermined by practice theories emphasizing the bodily, tacit, and collective properties of practice. Practice theories promise additional advances and insights into practical action in sport insofar as they explicitly take into account dimensions of practice widely abstracted from by approaches of human kinetics and sport psychology. By means of a praxeological reflection of the existing approaches to action in sport, the article identifies their blind spots and presents initial ideas for overcoming them.

scholarly journals Legal Awareness Dynamics of the Population of the South of Russia: Cognitive Aspect

Legal Concept ◽  
2019 ◽  
pp. 75-82
Author(s):  
Lyudmila Klimenko ◽  
Oksana Posukhova ◽  
Pavel Budaev
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Culture ◽  
Legal Responsibility ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
The South ◽  
Cognitive Component ◽  
Cultural Heterogeneity ◽  
Cognitive Components ◽  
Rostov Region ◽  
The Right

Introduction: the integration processes in the South of Russia are complicated by the ethno-cultural heterogeneity of the macroregion, different levels of socio-economic development of the subregions and differences in the societal values of the ethno-territorial communities. In these conditions, a similar legal culture serves as the basis for the consolidation of different groups of the population. The purpose of the paper is to analyze the dynamics of the legal culture cognitive component of the population of the multi-ethnic territories of Southern Russia. Methods: the empirical basis of the study was formed as part of comparative sociological research, when more than two thousand people were interviewed in the Rostov region, Adygea and Kabardino- Balkaria in 2001-2019. Results: as a rule, the legal culture of a civil-activist type should dominate in a modernized society, when the population understands and recognizes the priority of human rights and freedoms, legal responsibility, shows respect for the existing laws. Therefore, the study of the cognitive components of the legal culture of South-Russian residents includes the analysis of knowledge and perceptions of the respondents about the basic signs of the legal state, the permissibility of limitations of human rights, the degree of importance of the rights of different actors in society, the status of law, legislation in the case of administrative arrest and witness testimony. Conclusions: the empirical tests show a rather low level of specific legal knowledge of the population in all the considered territorial subjects of the South of Russia. Moreover, from the first to the last stages of the study, the dynamics of the knowledge level is decreasing. The priority of the right is not always manifested in the attitudes of the surveyed residents in the macroregion. Against this background, in the Rostov region at different stages of the study a stable group of respondents (about half of the respondents), for whom the legal norm is a legitimate regulator of behavior, was recorded. In the republican segment, the situation is volatile; the lagging dynamics of legal systems of a civil type in the Republic of Adygea and the accelerating one – in Kabardino-Balkaria are revealed.

Meta-analysis in Sociological Research: Power and Heterogeneity

2019 ◽  
pp. 004912411988247 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guangyu Tong ◽  
Guang Guo
Keyword(s):  
Random Effects ◽  
Science Studies ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Random Effects Models ◽  
Sociological Inquiry ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Fixed And Random Effects ◽  
Study Heterogeneity ◽  
Analysis Models

Meta-analysis is a statistical method that combines quantitative findings from previous studies. It has been increasingly used to obtain more credible results in a wide range of scientific fields. Combining the results of relevant studies allows researchers to leverage study similarities while modeling potential sources of between-study heterogeneity. This article provides a review of the core methodologies of meta-analysis that we consider most relevant to sociological research. After developing the foundation of the fixed- and random-effects models of meta-analysis models, this article illustrates the utility of the method with regression coefficients reported from two sets of social science studies. We explain the various steps of the process including constructing the meta-sample from primary studies, estimating the fixed- and random-effects models, analyzing the source of heterogeneity across studies, and assessing publication bias. We conclude with a discussion of steps that could be taken to strengthen the development of meta-analysis in sociological research, which will eventually increase the credibility of sociological inquiry via a knowledge-cumulative process.

scholarly journals The sociology of ecologically unequal exchange, foreign investment dependence and environmental load displacement: summary of the literature and implications for sustainability

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 334 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew K. Jorgenson
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Sociological Research ◽  
Environmental Load ◽  
Unequal Exchange ◽  
Sociological Inquiry ◽  
Transnational Civil Society ◽  
Load Displacement ◽  
Sociological Approaches ◽  
Structural Theories

The article begins by summarizing sociological approaches to (1) ecologically unequal exchange, and (2) foreign investment dependence and environmental load displacement. These areas of sociological inquiry consist of structural theories and cross-national statistical analyses that test hypotheses derived from both approaches. It concludes by briefly describing sociological research on global civil society and the environment, with a focus on the world society approach to environmental change. This area of theory and research provides some insights on ways in which global and transnational civil society groups, such as environmental international nongovernmental organizations, can partially mitigate the environmental harms caused by ecologically unequal exchanges and environmental load displacements.Key words: ecologically unequal exchange, environmental load displacement, foreign investment dependence

scholarly journals Human rights in territorial peace agreements

2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (04) ◽  
pp. 527-549
Author(s):  
Nina Caspersen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Comparative Analysis ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Post Cold War ◽  
Peace Agreements ◽  
Territorial Conflicts ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Liberal Peace ◽  
International Peacebuilding

AbstractJustice and peace are commonly seen as mutually reinforcing, and key international peacebuilding documents stress the importance of human rights. Is this apparent normative shift reflected in post-Cold War peace agreements? The existing literature is divided on this issue but has crucially treated both conflicts and peace agreements as aggregate categories. This article argues that the conflict type and the agreement's ‘core deal’ impact on the inclusion, or exclusion, of human rights provisions. Based on new coding of the 29 comprehensive agreements signed between 1990 and 2010, it compares agreements signed in territorial and non-territorial conflicts, and agreements with and without territorial autonomy. Qualitative Comparative Analysis is used to examine the different combinations of conditions that led to the inclusion of human rights. The analysis finds that agreements signed in territorial conflicts are significantly less likely to include effective human rights provisions, especially if the settlement includes territorial autonomy. Moreover, such provisions tend to be the result of high levels of international involvement, and the consequent lack of local commitment, or outright resistance, undermines their implementation. These findings point to important trade-offs between group rights and individual rights, and qualifies the notion of a liberal peace.

scholarly journals A Topographical Approach to Accountability for Human Rights Violations in Migration Control

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-354
Author(s):  
Nikolas Feith Tan ◽  
Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Black Holes ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Legal Geography ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Migration Control ◽  
Legal Regimes ◽  
Blind Spots ◽  
Strategic Litigation

AbstractThis Article develops what we call a “topographical approach” to accountability in migration control. Drawing on different strands of scholarship, including legal geography, “legal black holes,” and work on strategic litigation, we approach accountability by perceiving the site of a violation from a bird's-eye view and mapping different accountability structures across diverse legal regimes and via a broadened geographic lens. Rather than advocating for accountability in regard to particular regimes or jurisdictions, we argue that multi-pronged approaches are likely to remain the best starting point for ensuring accountability for human rights violations in the context of current migration control practices. The topographical approach thus offers a general framework for identifying existing blind spots, critically assessing existing trajectories, as well as exploring the wider grid of potential accountability mechanisms.

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