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Human Rights
In 1948 the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and with it a profusion of norms, processes, and institutions to define, promote, and protect human rights. Today virtually every cause seeks to cloak itself in the righteous language of rights. But even so, this universal reliance on the rights idiom has not succeeded in creating common ground and deep agreement as to the scope, content, and philosophical bases for human rights. Makau Mutua argues that the human rights enterprise inappropriately presents itself as a guarantor of eternal truths without which human civilization is impossible. Mutua contends that in fact the human rights corpus, though well meaning, ...
Human Rights Standards
How are human rights norms made, who makes them, and why? In Human Rights Standards, Makau Mutua traces the history of the human rights project and critically explores how the norms of the human rights movement have been created. Examining key texts and documents published since the inception of the human rights movement at the end of World War II, he crafts a bracing critique of these works from the hitherto underutilized perspective of the Global South. Attention is focused on the deficits of the international order and how that order, which is defined by multiple asymmetries, defines human rights in a manner that exhibits normative gaps and cultural biases. Mutua identifies areas of further norm development and concludes that norm-creating processes must be inclusive and participatory to garner legitimacy across various cleavages and divides. The result is the first truly comprehensive critical look at the making of human rights norms and standards and, as such, will be an invaluable resource for students, scholars, activists, and policymakers interested in this important topic.
Kenya's Quest for Democracy
Tracing the trajectory of postcolonial politics, Makau Mutua maps the political forces that have shaped contemporary Kenya. He also critically explores efforts on the part of both civil society and the political opposition to reform the state. Analyzing the tortuous efforts since independence to create a sustainable, democratic state, he uses the struggle over constitutional reform as a window for understanding the larger struggles confronting Kenyan society.
The Palgrave Handbook of Democracy, Governance and Justice in Africa
There is an emerging consensus that what is projected as democratic governance and justice in Africa requires a re-calibration, in particular, in relation to the constitutive demos, human rights, the realisation of commitments at various governance levels and the convergence between these ideations. The post-colonial narrative on democracy has unveiled some crevices in rule of law, political equality, political participation, political culture and freedom of the press. Aside from the fact that these notions are threatened by some existing institutional structures, these notions are increasingly being negotiated across political spaces. Evident in the prevalent narrative is an imperative for Africa to assert its place on the global scene of democratic governance and justice. However, if this will be accomplished, it is important to understand some of the issues that need to be worked through in this transition.
Human Rights NGOs in East Africa
Human rights nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) are by definition not part of the state. Rather, they are an element of civil society, the strands of the fabric of organized life in countries, and crucial to the prospect of political democracy. Civil society is a very recent phenomenon in East African nations, where authoritarian regimes have prevailed and human rights watchdogs have had a critical role to play. While the state remains one of the major challenges to human rights efforts in the countries of the region, other problems that are internal to the human rights movement are also of a serious nature, and they are many: What are the social bases of the human rights enterprise in tra...
Eyes on the Prize
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Human Rights with Modesty: The Problem of Universalism
This volume considers the problem of legal universals at the level of the rule of law and human rights, which have fundamentally different pedigrees, and attempts to come to terms with the new unease arising from the universal application of human rights. Given the juridicization of human rights, rule of law and human rights expectations have become significantly intertwined: human rights are enforced with the instruments of the rule of law and are thus limited by the restricted reach thereof. The first section of this volume considers the difficulties of universalistic claims and offers a number of possible solutions for adapting universal expectations to specific contexts. The second secti...
Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley was a cruel imperialist - a bad man of Africa. Or so we think: but as Tim Jeal brilliantly shows, the reality of Stanley's life is yet more extraordinary. Few people know of his dazzling trans-Africa journey, a heart-breaking epic of human endurance which solved virtually every one of the continent's remaining geographical puzzles. With new documentary evidence, Jeal explores the very nature of exploration and reappraises a reputation, in a way that is both moving and truly majestic.
Africa
The principal aim of this work is to provide a forum for leading international lawyers with experience and interest in Africa to address a broad range of intellectual challenges concerning the contribution of African states and peoples to international law. As such, the volume addresses orthodox topics of international law - such as jurisdiction and intervention - but tackles them from an African perspective, and seeks to ask whether, in each case, the African perspective is unique or affirms existing arrangements of international law. The book cannot come at a more important time. While international legal discourse has been captured by the challenge of terrorism since September 11, 2001, t...
Human Rights Standards
A bracing critique of human rights law and activism from the perspective of the Global South. How are human rights norms made, who makes them, and why? In Human Rights Standards, Makau Mutua traces the history of the human rights project and critically explores how the norms of the human rights movement have been created. Examining key texts and documents published since the inception of the human rights movement at the end of World War II, he crafts a bracing critique of these works from the hitherto underutilized perspective of the Global South. Attention is focused on the deficits of the international order and how that order, which is defined by multiple asymmetries, defines human rights in a manner that exhibits normative gaps and cultural biases. Mutua identifies areas of further norm development and concludes that norm-creating processes must be inclusive and participatory to garner legitimacy across various cleavages and divides. The result is the first truly comprehensive critical look at the making of human rights norms and standards and, as such, will be an invaluable resource for students, scholars, activists, and policymakers interested in this important topic.
