CAS IR 352 Study Guide - Spring 2018, Comprehensive Midterm Notes - Human Rights, International Law, Universalism
12 Oct 2018
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CAS IR 352
MIDTERM EXAM
STUDY GUIDE
Fall 2018
IR352 International Human Rights
Lecture Notes
1/23/2018 Lecture 1
Definition of Human Rights: The basic needs every individual deserves in order to
have a fulfilling life
- Concept of human dignity – available to them because they are innate
- Legal means – they have to be specific and codified. Governments make
laws and enforce laws.
What are Human Rights?
Different definitions:
Encyclopedia Britannica:
o Rights that belong to an individual or group of individuals as a
consequence of being human. They refer to a wide continuum of
values or capabilities thought to enhance human agency and
declared to be universal in character, in some sense equally
claimed for all human beings.
Routledge
o The underlying idea is that all human beings, simply because they
are human beings, are entitled to be treated according to certain
minimum standards.
UDHR:
o Recognition of inherent dignity, equal and inalienable rights,
foundation of freedom, justice and peace
United Nations:
Became an international law
Committee of experts that monitor how countries are practicing their
human rights for citizens
Duty for the enforcing rights by the government – it is the government’s
right to give these rights
Emphasize government
Law distinguishes human rights from human dignity – law and the
government help promote rights
Jack Donnelly (book):
His definition of human rights:
o “human rights are, literally, the rights that one has because one is
human” (page 7)
o “having a right refers to an “entitlement.” “to have a right to x is to
be entitled to x” (page 8)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Entitled a right to citizenship, something that you are owed,
comes to you from the government
o “rights create a field of rule-governed interactions centered on,
and under the control of, the right-holder” (page 8)
It’s about you and what you can demand. You are entitled to
ask the government for things because of this right.
Rule-governed legal, codified
o “from the point of view of society, objective enjoyment must be the
norm. in an ideal world, rights would remain not only out of sight but
out of mind as well” (page 9)
We only have to express human rights WHEN they are
THREATENDED. Example: no one is complaining about their
right to breathe air.
o “Rights are a sort of ‘last resort’; they usually are claimed only when
things are not going well” (page 12)
o “Human rights are not just abstract values such as liberty, equality
and security. They are rights, particular social practices to realize.”
(page 11)
Where do we get human rights?
o “the source of human rights is man’s moral nature” (page 14)
Argue that human rights will come out of our soul – Donnelly
does not agree with that
Donnelly – modern invention that responds to specific human
rights for a life of dignity
o “once a utopian ideal and a realistic practice for implementing
that ideal. They say, in effect, ‘treat a person like a human being
and you’ll get a human being’.
o Donnelly claims that human rights are not rooted in human nature
o “many societies have denied the moral centrality, even the
existence, of our common humanity on thoughtful and carefully
justified grounds” (page 19)
Ex: why do you treat unmarried people than married people?
o “human rights ultimately rest on a social decision to act as though
such ‘things’ existed – and then, through social interaction directed
by these rights to make real the world they envision” (page 21)
We HAVE human rights because we decided that we WANT
human rights. There’s no moral or natural thing about it.
Sovereignty – the ability for a country to act on its own
How did the modern concept of human rights arise?
o Where did they idea of human rights come about?
o Idea: History of the emergence of human rights:
o If human rights are not inherent to us, if they are not naturally
revealed inside us, then we have to search for their origins
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Definition of human rights: the basic needs every individual deserves in order to have a fulfilling life. Concept of human dignity available to them because they are innate. Legal means they have to be specific and codified. Encyclopedia britannica: rights that belong to an individual or group of individuals as a consequence of being human. They refer to a wide continuum of values or capabilities thought to enhance human agency and declared to be universal in character, in some sense equally claimed for all human beings. Routledge: the underlying idea is that all human beings, simply because they are human beings, are entitled to be treated according to certain minimum standards. Udhr: recognition of inherent dignity, equal and inalienable rights, foundation of freedom, justice and peace. Committee of experts that monitor how countries are practicing their human rights for citizens. Duty for the enforcing rights by the government it is the government"s right to give these rights.
