The Measure of Nations: Testing the Assumptions behind the Classical Rule

2020 ◽  
pp. 92-120
Author(s):  
Timothy William Waters
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
World War ◽  
Territorial Integrity ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
Second World

This chapter examines what people think the prevailing model actually does. The current, classical rule of self-determination is historically bounded: Its borders are history's borders; it favors the outcomes of historical processes over current realities. Under the classical rule, whenever a conflict arises within a state, people are compelled to look for solutions that work within the fixed borders they already have. This constraint is thought to be a virtue. The explicit purpose of the system put in place at the end of the Second World War—territorial integrity, self-determination, human rights, and prohibition of aggression—was to stabilize global politics and reduce the resort to war. Rigid borders were an intentional part of that project. But has that been the result? Have fixed borders produced a more peaceful world? What if territorial integrity has not reduced violence but increased it? To answer these questions, one has to measure the effects of the classical rule. The chapter does that, and suggests borders are not doing what people think they are.

Initiative Center for the Decolonization of Estonia

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-229 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Community ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
World War ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Second World

In the twentieth century, and particularly under the influence of the Second World War, the international community, in the interests of normal relations, has considered it necessary to agree on certain fundamental principles, such as the observance of universal human rights, the right of nations to self-determination, the equality of the rights of big and small nations, impermissibility of aggression, and liberation from the yoke of colonialism. These principles are written in international conventions, the UN charter and several of its resolutions, and recognized by the majority of states.

scholarly journals Limiting the executive power after the Second World War: the invention of administrative science

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232098559
Author(s):  
Céline Mavrot
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
World Order ◽  
Daily Practice ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Executive Power ◽  
World War ◽  
Administrative Power ◽  
History Of ◽  
Second World ◽  
Administrative Science

This article analyses the emergence of administrative science in France in the wake of the Second World War. The birth of this discipline is examined through the history of its founders, a group of comparatist aiming at developing universal administrative principles. The post-war context prompted the creation of checks and balances against administrative power (through oversight of the legality of administrative action) and against the powers of nation states (through human rights and international organizations). Administrative science and comparative law were meant to rebuild international relations. The history of this discipline highlights a legal project to redefine the role and limits of executive power at the dawn of the construction of a new world order. Points for practitioners Looking at long-term developments in the science of administration helps to inform administrative practice by providing a historical and reflective perspective. This article shows how a new understanding of the administrative reality emerged after the fall of the totalitarian regimes of the first half of the 20th century. It highlights the different ways in which administrative power was controlled after the Second World War through greater oversight over administrative legality, the establishment of universal administrative principles and the proclamation of human rights. Questions of administrative legitimacy and the limitation of administrative power are still very much part of the daily practice of executive power, and represent a central aspect of administrative thinking.

ON THE ROLE AND RELEVANCE OF THE UNITED NATIONS AND ITS FUTURE PROSPECTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-39
Author(s):  
Михаил Елизаров
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Future Prospects ◽  
International Peace ◽  
World War ◽  
Peace And Security ◽  
Common Goals ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Second World

Born out of the ashes of the Second World War, the United Nations has made a major contribution to maintain international peace and security. Based on common goals, shared burdens and expenses, responsibility and accountability, the UN helped to reduce the risk of a repetition of a Word War, to reduce hunger and poverty, and promote human rights. But today, the legitimacy and credibility of the UN have been seriously undermined by the desire of some countries to act alone, abandoning multilateralism. So, do we need the UN today?

The Conflation of Race and Propaganda in the Mobilization of Africans for the Second World War

2021 ◽  
pp. 002190962110549
Author(s):  
Raphael Chijioke Njoku
Keyword(s):  
African Diaspora ◽  
Jim Crow ◽  
Second World War ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Global Politics ◽  
World War ◽  
Benito Mussolini ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
The Great War ◽  
Second World

The primary focus here is to accentuate the competing roles of race and propaganda in the enlistment of Africans and African Americans for the Second World War. Among other things, the discussion captures on the interwar years and emphasizes the subtleties of African American Pan-Africanist discourses as a counterweight to Black oppression encountered in the racialized spaces of Jim Crow America, colonized Africa, and the pugnacious infraction that was the Italo-Ethiopian war of 1935–1936. Tying up the implications of these events into the broader global politics of 1939–1945 establishes the background in which the Allied Powers sought after Black people’s support in the war against the Axis Powers. Recalling that Italy’s fascist leader Benito Mussolini attacked Ethiopia in 1935 with poisonous gas while the League of Nations refused to act, points to the barefaced conflation of race and propaganda in the Great War and the centrality of African and African Diaspora exertions in the conflict.

scholarly journals Church and state in South Africa and human rights

2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Piet J. Strauss
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Church And State ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Image Of God ◽  
World War ◽  
Central Tenet ◽  
The Image Of God ◽  
Second World

After the Second World War, there was a universal rise and greater acknowledgement of human rights, which entered churches and ecumenical organisations’ way of thinking. Human rights influenced the church’s understanding of justice and human dignity both internally and externally. The concept of human dignity came from the biblical believe that man is created in the image of God. In South Africa human rights were also increasingly recognised and respected. A charter of human rights was included as chapter 2 of the 1996 Constitution and churches regard human dignity as a central tenet of their approach to members and non-members. Differences between church and state on the issue have arisen as the result of differences on the freedom of religion. Church and state in South Africa can complement each other in the promotion of human dignity.Opsomming: Kerk en staat in Suid-Afrika en menseregte. Na die Tweede Wêreldoorlog is menseregte wêreldwyd erken en aanvaar. Dit was ook die geval in kerke en ekumeniese organisasies. Menseregte het kerke se siening van geregtigheid en menswaardigheid in hulle interne sowel as eksterne optrede beïnvloed. Die begrip menswaardigheid het ontstaan uit die bybelse oortuiging dat die mens na die beeld van God geskape is. In Suid-Afrika is menseregte ook toenemend erken en aanvaar. ’n Verklaring van menseregte is as hoofstuk 2 in die 1996-grondwet ingesluit en kerke beskou menswaardigheid as toonaangewend in hulle benadering van mense binne en buite die kerk. Verskille tussen die kerk en die staat in Suid-Afrika oor menseregte het ontstaan as gevolg van verskille oor die inhoud van die vryheid van godsdiens. Teen hierdie agtergrond kan kerk en staat mekaar egter aanvul in die bevordering van menseregte.

scholarly journals Menneskeverdet i tre nyere tolkninger som placeholder, heuristisk og «flytende signifikant»

2019 ◽  
pp. 215-237
Author(s):  
Ådne Valen-Sendstad
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Second World War ◽  
European Law ◽  
World War ◽  
Normative Concept ◽  
New Meanings ◽  
Second World ◽  
Common Understanding

In this chapter I discuss three new ways, of understanding human dignity. First, Christopher McCrudden’s concern is with the fact that there is no common understanding of the concept. He argues that dignity is a placeholder. It is open to interpretations from a diversity of normative understandings, – religious and secular. Still, he argues for a core of overlapping content within the diversity of understandings. Second, Catherine Dupré understands human dignity as a heuristic concept, open for new interpretations. The concept is in itself inexhaustible. New meanings develop in confrontation with new issues. Observing that the concept has become one of the pillars in European law and democracies, and has been crucial in several junctions when dictatorships has fallen and democracies has been established after the Second World War, she finds that the concept comes to its right in particular in transitional and transformative situations. Finally, Costas Douzinas does not work with the concept human dignity but with the concept of the human, to whom human dignity is designated in the human rights. I reinterpret his theory to also cover the normative concept human dignity. It is brought into force by proclamations, and as such becomes a transformative and life changing concept in particular for people living in need of dignity.

Islamic Law and Human Rights

2015 ◽  
pp. 818-842
Author(s):  
Shannon Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Second World War ◽  
World War ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Human Rights Discourse ◽  
Second World

This article explores the question of whether Islamic law and universal human rights are compatible. It begins with an overview of human rights discourse after the Second World War before discussing Islamic human rights declarations and the claims of Muslim apologists regarding human rights, along with challenges to Muslim apologetics in human rights discourse. It then considers the issues of gender and gender equality, feminism, and freedom of religion in relation to human rights. It also examines four basic scholarly orientations to the topic of Islam and human rights since the end of the Second World War: a model that privileges a secular (non-religious) paradigm for rights; a Muslim apologist model, which privileges a purely “Islamic” conception of rights over secular models; a Marxist/postcolonial critique of rights as a western imposition of power; and a Muslim reformist paradigm of rights that highlights points of continuity between western legal and Muslim legal traditions.

2. Historical background

2019 ◽  
pp. 8-28
Author(s):  
Rhona K. M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
International Labour Organization ◽  
World War ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
International Human ◽  
Second World

This chapter provides an historical sketch of international human rights. It considers the divergent views as to the origins of human rights. The chapter traces developments including the law of aliens; diplomatic laws; the laws of war; slavery; minority rights; the establishment of the International Labour Organization; and human rights protection after the Second World War.

2. Historical development and contemporary concerns

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Clapham
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Historical Development ◽  
Second World War ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
World War ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Second World

The content of human rights is usually understood by reference to the legal catalogue of human rights we find developed through international texts. ‘Historical development and contemporary concerns’ examines the key text for human rights today—The Universal Declaration of Human Rights—adopted in 1948 by the UN General Assembly. Since that time many treaties and intergovernmental Declarations have supplemented this proclamation of rights. The treaties are best viewed as providing a framework against which we can legitimately judge the performance of governments. How did this human rights catalogue come about? What roles did the League of Nations and Second World War play?

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