School of International Studies
Name of Instructor: Dr. Zaid Al-Bakhit Office Hours: Sunday (4-5)
Contact Information: mziadbakhit@yahoo.com
Course Title: The Politics of Human Rights
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the central concepts, ideas, and debates in the
field of politics of human rights. We will be examining some of the fundamental
questions concerning human rights as well as examining the practical
applications of the theory. We will reflect reflect on the topic of transitional
justice, as the question of how we respond to human rights abuses is no less
contentious than the principles underlying them. Our prior notions, about human
nature, the concepts of sovereignty and right, and the nature of the international
system, will determine how we answer the calls for humanitarian action that
present themselves regularly.
A central proposition throughout the course is that human rights cannot be
separated from politics—we cannot understand either why human rights abuses
happen or why international actors respond to human rights abuses in the way
that they do without examining the political contexts in which the abuses and
policies take place. This course, the Politics of Human Rights, will take a heavily
political approach to both theoretical and practical formulations and applications
of the idea of human rights.
Assessment Overview:
Description
Attendance, participation,
presentation
Term paper
Final exam
Weight
30 %
Due Date
30%
40%
May. 10
Course Schedule and outlines:
Week
1
Feb.
Feb. 10
Topic(s) to be covered
3
Feb. 24
The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
http://www.un.org/Overvie
w/rights.html
Introduction and Overview
Theoretical and Methodological
Framework
2
Feb. 17
Readings
1.
2.
Political Approach to Human Rights:
The Nature of Politics
3.
1.
Human Rights Approach to Politics:
The Nature, the Scope of Rights and
the Philosophy of Politics
Madigan, Janet Holl, Truth,
Politics, and Universal
Human Rights, (ebrary
Reader) Part II.
2. Donnelly, Jack, International
Human Rights, chapter 2
1.
4
Mar. 3
Human Rights Approach to Politics:
The Nature, the Scope of Rights and
the Philosophy of Politics
Integrating Politics into Human rights
5
or Imposing Human Rights into
Mar. 10
Politics?
2.
1.
2.
Scope of Rights and the Obligations
of the State
1.
6
Donnelly, Jack, International
Human
Rights,
(ebrary
Reader) chapter 1.
Madigan, Janet Holl, Truth,
Politics,
and
Universal
Human
Rights,
(ebrary
Reader) Part I.
Todd Landman – The
Political Science of Human
Rights. British Journal of
Political Science, 2005.
Why Do States Abuse Human Rights?
Micheal Freeman, "The
Philosophical Foundations of
Rights, Human Rights
Quartely, 16, (August, 1994):
491-514.
Madigan, Janet Holl, Truth,
Politics, and Universal
Human Rights, (ebrary
Reader) Part III and IV.
Donnelly, Jack, International
Human Rights, chapter 3, and
5.
Paris, M. (2006), The Politics
of Rights: Then and Now.
Law & Social Inquiry,
31: 999–1034.
Poe, Steven C., C. Neal Tate,
and Linda Camp Keith. 1999.
“Repression of the Human
Right to Personal Integrity
Mar. 17
2.
1.
7
Mar. 27
Why Do States Adapt Human Rights
Treaties?
2.
3.
Revisited: A Global CrossNational Study Covering the
Years
1976-1993.”
International
Studies
Quarterly 43(2): 291-313.
Davenport, Christian. 1995.
“Multi-Dimensional Threat
Perception
and
State
Repression: An Inquiry into
Why States Apply Negative
Sanction.” American Journal
of Political Science 39(3):
683-713.
Hathaway, Oona. 2002. “Do
Human
Rights
Treaties
Matter?” The Yale Law
Journal 111:1935-2042.
Goodman, Ryan and Derek
Jinks. 2003. “Measuring the
Effect of Human Rights
Treaties.” European Journal
of International Law 14(1):
171-183.
Koh, Harold H. 1999. “How Is
International Human Rights
Law Enforced?” Indiana Law
Journal 74(4): 1397-1417.
8
Mar. 31
9
Ap. 7
Human Rights and Foreign Policy
1. Donnelly, Jack, International
Human Rights, chapter 6.
Playing Cool: U.S and Human Values
10
Ap. 14
Human Rights and Foreign Policy
(Cont)
Playing Tool: European Union and
Humanitarian Intervention
11
Ap. 21
Human Rights and Foreign Policy
(Cont)
Playing Fool: China and the Limits of
Human Rights Policy
1. Walldorf, C. William, Jr., Just
Politics: Human Rights and
the Foreign Policy of Great
Powers, (ebrary Reader)
Introduction.
1. Hilsdon, Anne-Marie, Human
Rights and Gender Politics:
Asia Pacific Perspectives,
(ebrary Reader) chapter 4.
12
Ap. 28
The Politics of Globalization and
Trade
1. Donnelly, Jack, International
Human Rights, chapter 9.
2. Hafner-Burton, Emilie. 2005.
1.
13
May 5
Human Rights Approach to Conflict
Management: Arab Spring as a Case
Study
14
May 12
The Domestic Politics of Human
Rights: The Case of Jordan
15
May 19
Politics of Human Rights: Gender
Issues
2.
“Trading Human Rights: How
Preferential Trade
Agreements Influence
Government Repression.”
International Organization
59(3): 593-629.
Lisa Anderson, Demystifying
the Arab Spring: Parsing the
differences Between Tunisia,
Egypt, and Libya, in the New
Arab Revolt, pgs: 337-345.
Goldstone, Jack A.
“Understanding the
Revolutions of 2011, in The
New Arab Revolt pgs:346360.
Donnelly, Jack, International
Human Rights, chapter 4.
2. Report on Human Rights
Situation in Jordan for 2010,
The National Center For
Human Rights.
1. Charlesworth Hilary, What
are Women's International
Human Rights?
2. Hilsdon, Anne-Marie, Human
Rights and Gender Politics:
Asia Pacific Perspectives,
(ebrary Reader) chapter 1
and 2.
1.
1. Hilsdon, Anne-Marie, Human
16
May 26
Politics of Human Rights: Gender
Issues (Cont)
2.
Rights and Gender Politics:
Asia Pacific Perspectives,
(ebrary Reader) chapter 5.
Abdullahi An,Naim, Human
Rights in the Muslim World,