LAWS 3503 Chapter 1: READING NOTES - Human Rights in the 21st C (Kapur)

• School: Carleton University
• Department: Law
• Course: LAWS 3503
• Professor: Diana Majury

Document Summary

Illusory sense of progress in human rights (cid:862)e(cid:396)a of hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) (cid:396)ights(cid:863) Proliferation of laws in the name of human rights good vs bad? (cid:1007) (cid:374)or(cid:373)ati(cid:448)e (cid:272)lai(cid:373)s o(cid:374) (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) rights proje(cid:272)t is (cid:271)ased . Narrative of progress that (cid:862)hu(cid:373)a(cid:374) (cid:396)ights (cid:396)ep(cid:396)ese(cid:374)ts a step forward in the progress of human de(cid:448)elop(cid:373)e(cid:374)t a(cid:374)d (cid:272)i(cid:448)ilizatio(cid:374)al (cid:373)atu(cid:396)it(cid:455)(cid:863) (cid:894)(cid:1010)(cid:1010)(cid:1010)(cid:895) Discriminatory universality (cid:862)dehisto(cid:396)i(cid:272)ized, (cid:374)eut(cid:396)al a(cid:374)d i(cid:374)(cid:272)lusi(cid:448)e (cid:272)lai(cid:373)s(cid:863) (cid:894)(cid:1010)(cid:1010)(cid:1010)(cid:895) Kapur postcolonial feminist legal thinker (*position oneself) (i) narrative of progress. Establishment of human rights in mid-20th c. State sovereignty no longer accepted as excuse for humr violations. *discourse permeated by imperial ambition, assertions about moral & civilizational superiority, religious evangelicalism. Tone of language muscle-flexing & macho talk vs. gentler to(cid:374)es of (cid:449)o(cid:373)e(cid:374)(cid:859)s (cid:396)ights, pea(cid:272)e, democracy, etc. (ii) discriminatory universality. U(cid:374)i(cid:448)e(cid:396)salit(cid:455) (cid:448)s. (cid:858)the othe(cid:396) side of u(cid:374)i(cid:448)e(cid:396)salit(cid:455)(cid:863) da silva. Criticism of practical liberalism = exclusions of past correct through gradual inclusion of previously excluded.