Fundamental Human Rights, Legal Entitlements, and the Social Struggle: A Friendly Critique of the Critical Legal Studies Movement

1984 ◽  
Vol 36 (1/2) ◽  
pp. 509 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ed Sparer
2020 ◽  
pp. 239-263
Author(s):  
Diana Marcela Rincón Henao

This paper focuses on the case of Ríos Vivos Antioquia, a social and environmental movement that fights against the construction of Hidroituango —the largest dam in Colombia— which has produced serious environmental and social impacts on the population surrounding the project. This article analyzes the internationalization of the struggle by this movement through different strategies aimed at defending the Human Rights of its community. For that purpose, this research uses documents produced by the movement and reports of some NGOs as well as interviews with members of RVAM and external collaborators to know their main strategies in some depth. This paper concludes that the strategies of internationalization used by this movement have resulted in the strengthening of the social struggle and the empowerment of the population in that region, which has been particularly affected by the violence in Colombia.


2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 290-299 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Tushnet

The first few years in the development of critical legal studies (CLS) saw an ongoing discussion of an issue that was framed as “rationalism v. irrationalism”. The labels, it now appears, were misleading, for the discussion can be better understood as concerning the utility - for purposes of orienting strategic action as well as of understanding the social order - of relatively large-scale social theories in the traditions of Marx and Weber. The distinctive contribution of CLS to leftist social thought, and the embodiment of the fact that one side in the earlier discussion more or less prevailed, is its insistence that a leftist social and political theory does not need to be grounded in that sort of social theory.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
W akar Amin

History is witness to the fact that warring factions in any armed conflict often commit several human rights violations like murder, rape, torture etc., and the act of disappearance of person is one among them. While the persons who are subjected to disappearance are the primary victims, the families they leave behind are the secondary victims. The situation makes families of the disappeared person suffer great anguish when their loved ones go disappeared. The phenomenon produces anguish, fear and unspeakable sorrow for thousands of families. Appreciating the importance of social work professionals in helping families deal effective with their life situations the present paper aims to provide a case for social work interventional techniques of Social Support System (SSS) and Case Management to modify and make the social environment conducive for the families to live a normal life.


2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (4) ◽  
pp. 161-169
Author(s):  
I. I. Chesnitskiy ◽  

The article presents an analysis of the state and problems of implementing the socio-economic rights of population of the Khabarovsk territory as a priority area for reducing poverty. Attention of the authorities was drawn to the situation of poverty in a number of northern municipalities, where the population is experiencing difficulties in realizing their socio-economic rights due to the lack of jobs. Concern was expressed about the socio-economic rights of persons released from the places of deprivation of liberty. The Commissioner for human rights in the Khabarovsk territory, taking into account the study of situation in the region, sets out his vision for solving the problem of reducing poverty in the Khabarovsk territory and makes proposals that, in his opinion, can be used by the regional state authorities to achieve the indicators set by the President of the Russian Federation.


Postcolonial studies, postmodern studies, even posthuman studies emerge, and intellectuals demand that social sciences be remade to address fundamentals of the human condition, from human rights to global environmental crises. Since these fields owe so much to American state sponsorship, is it easier to reimagine the human and the modern than to properly measure the pervasive American influence? Reconsidering American Power offers trenchant studies by renowned scholars who reassess the role of the social sciences in the construction and upkeep of the Pax Americana and the influence of Pax Americana on the social sciences. With the thematic image for this enterprise as the ‘fiery hunt’ for Ahab’s whale, the contributors pursue realities behind the theories, and reconsider the real origins and motives of their fields with an eye on what will deter or repurpose the ‘fiery hunts’ to come, by offering a critical insider’s view.


2021 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 120-134
Author(s):  
Dilek Kurban

In his well-researched biography, Mike Chinoy chronicles Kevin Boyle's life and career as a scholar, activist and lawyer, bringing to light his under-appreciated role in the civil rights movement in Northern Ireland and the efforts to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, as well as his contributions to human rights movements in the United Kingdom, Europe and the world. Are You With Me? is an important contribution to the literature on the actors who have shaped the norms, institutions and operations of human rights. In its efforts to shed light on one man, the book offers a fresh alternative to state-centric accounts of the origins of human rights. The book offers a portrait of a social movement actor turned legal scholar who used the law to contest the social inequalities against the minority community to which he belonged and to push for a solution to the underlying political conflict, as well as revelations of the complex power dynamics between human rights lawyers and the social movements they represent. In these respects Are You With Me? also provides valuable insights for socio-legal scholars, especially those focusing on legal mobilisation. At the same time the book could have provided a fuller and more complex biographical account had Chinoy been geographically and linguistically comprehensive in selecting his interviewees. The exclusion of Kurdish lawyers and human rights advocates is noticeable, particularly in light of the inclusion of Boyle's local partners in other contexts, such as South Africa.


2015 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-67
Author(s):  
Sylvie Da Lomba

For more than a decade, the Council of Europe has expressed deep concern over irregular migrants’ poor access to basic social rights. With this in mind, I consider the extent to which the European Convention on Human Rights can contribute to protect irregular migrants in the social sphere. To this end, I consider the role of international supervisory bodies in social rights adjudication and discuss the suitability of international adjudication as a means to uphold irregular migrants’ social rights. Having reached the conclusion that international adjudication can help protect irregular migrants’ social rights, I examine the ‘social dimension’ of the European Convention on Human Rights and the significance that the European Court of Human Rights attaches to immigration status. I posit that the importance that the Court attaches to resource and immigration policy considerations in N v. United Kingdom significantly constrains the ability of the European Convention on Human Rights to afford irregular migrants protection in the social sphere.


2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noam Schimmel

AbstractThe right to an education that is consonant with and draws upon the culture and language of indigenous peoples is a human right which is too often overlooked by governments when they develop and implement programmes whose purported goals are to improve the social, economic and political status of these peoples. Educational programmes for indigenous peoples must fully respect and integrate human rights protections, particularly rights to cultural continuity and integrity. Racist attitudes dominate many government development programmes aimed at indigenous peoples. Educational programmes for indigenous peoples are often designed to forcibly assimilate them and destroy the uniqueness of their language, values, culture and relationship with their native lands. Until indigenous peoples are empowered to develop educational programmes for their own communities that reflect and promote their values and culture, their human rights are likely to remain threatened by governments that use education as a political mechanism for coercing indigenous peoples to adapt to a majority culture that does not recognize their rights, and that seeks to destroy their ability to sustain and pass on to future generations their language and culture.


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