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are-human-rights-and-democracy-universal?-–-springer

Are Human Rights and Democracy Universal? – Springer

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Abstract

The story that democracy and rights are natural and universal obscures the many factors that are necessary to achieve a flourishing democracy that respects human rights. Ignoring these factors can lead to harmful misjudgments of our own and others’ political situations. Taking seriously voices and contexts from the Global South helps bring out these factors, allowing us to develop thicker notions of democracy, human rights, and the goals of political society. This chapter draws on work by Amartya Sen, Abdullahi An-Na’im, Antony Anghie, the Dalai Lama, Zhou Qi, Mahmood Mamdani, Lila Abu-Lughod, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, Sérgio Vieira de Mello, Paul Collier, and Daniel Ziblatt and Steven Levitsky, as well as perspectives from citizens in a variety of countries, including conversations I had with people in Guyana in the run-up to their national elections and an interview I conducted with a Mayan human rights activist.

Notes

  1. 1.

    Bush (2004).

  2. 2.

    MacIntyre (1981, p. 69).

  3. 3.

    Graeber (2011, p. 206).

  4. 4.

    Kapur (2019) and Anghie (2006).

  5. 5.

    Glendon (2001, p. 77).

  6. 6.

    Ron et al. (2017).

  7. 7.

    Roth (2014).

  8. 8.

    Herre et al. (2023).

  9. 9.

    Herre et al. (2023).

  10. 10.

    Fariss (2014).

  11. 11.

    Dalai Lama (2001).

  12. 12.

    Human Rights Can Be Manifested Differently (2005).

  13. 13.

    Jin (2023, p. 12).

  14. 14.

    Maizland (2022).

  15. 15.

    Abu-Lughod (2013, pp. 192–198).

  16. 16.

    Parekh (2020, p. 72).

  17. 17.

    United Nations (1948, Article 22).

  18. 18.

    United Nations (1948, Article 25–1).

  19. 19.

    Moyo (2009, p. 44).

  20. 20.

    Ron et al. (2017, p. 47).

  21. 21.

    Qi (2005, p. 118).

  22. 22.

    Jin (2023, p. 13).

  23. 23.

    Stiglitz (2017, p. 93).

  24. 24.

    For an extended argument that the international human rights project has neglected economic concerns, see Moyn (2018).

  25. 25.

    United Nations (1948, Article 5).

  26. 26.

    Mamdani (2010, pp. 59–60).

  27. 27.

    Asad (2003, pp. 127–128).

  28. 28.

    Abu-Lughod (2013, p. 221).

  29. 29.

    Abu-Lughod (2013, p. 160).

  30. 30.

    An-Na’im (2021, p. 1).

  31. 31.

    Herre (2023).

  32. 32.

    Herre (2023).

  33. 33.

    Alliance of Democracies (2021).

  34. 34.

    Herre (2023).

  35. 35.

    Alliance of Democracies (2021).

  36. 36.

    Fariss (2014) and Mulligan et al. (2004).

  37. 37.

    Sen (2000, p. 9).

  38. 38.

    Herre (2023).

  39. 39.

    Wenar (2015, p. 169).

  40. 40.

    Haass (2021, p. 271).

  41. 41.

    Collier (2009, p. 11).

  42. 42.

    Maclean (2022).

  43. 43.

    Rodrik (2017, p. 104), Chang (2009, pp. 178–179).

  44. 44.

    Chang (2009, pp. 178–179), Kenny (2011, p. 105).

  45. 45.

    Herre (2023).

  46. 46.

    Collier (2008, p. 49).

  47. 47.

    United Nations (2023).

  48. 48.

    Collier (2009, pp. 36–37).

  49. 49.

    Wenar (2015), p. 44.

  50. 50.

    Levitsky and Ziblatt (2018, p. 76).

  51. 51.

    Levitsky and Ziblatt (2018, p. 9).

  52. 52.

    Levitsky and Ziblatt (2018, p. 6).

  53. 53.

    Levitsky and Ziblatt (2018, p. 92).

  54. 54.

    Wenar (2015, p. 7).

  55. 55.

    Levitsky and Ziblatt (2018, pp. 20–22).

  56. 56.

    Commission on State Fragility, Growth and Development (2018, p. 15).

  57. 57.

    Collier (2009, pp. 70–73).

  58. 58.

    Collier (2009, p. 68).

  59. 59.

    Miguel (2004).

  60. 60.

    Fujiwara and Wantchekon (2013).

  61. 61.

    Banerjee and Duflo (2011, p. 253).

  62. 62.

    Banerjee and Duflo (2011, p. 252).

  63. 63.

    Banerjee and Duflo (2011, pp. 250–251, 261–262).

  64. 64.

    Hessami and Lopes da Fonseca (2020).

  65. 65.

    Aristide (2000, pp. 35–37).

  66. 66.

    Uvin (2008, p. 73).

  67. 67.

    Szreter (2007).

  68. 68.

    Abi-Habib (2021).

  69. 69.

    Uvin (2008, p. 68).

  70. 70.

    Chang (2009, p. 167).

  71. 71.

    Farmer (2012, p. 369).

  72. 72.

    Chenoweth and Stephan (2011).

  73. 73.

    Anghie (2006, p. 751).

  74. 74.

    Alliance of Democracies (2021).

  75. 75.

    Demarais (2022).

  76. 76.

    United Nations (2021).

  77. 77.

    Sprunt (2022).

  78. 78.

    Sikkink (2019, p. 186).

  79. 79.

    See, for example, Davenport (2019).

  80. 80.

    Farmer (2012, p. 369).

  81. 81.

    Soueif (2021).

  82. 82.

    Simmons (2009).

  83. 83.

    Sikkink (2019, p. 212).

  84. 84.

    Sadjadpour (2022).

  85. 85.

    An-Na’im (2021, pp. 1–2).

  86. 86.

    An-Na’im (2021, p. ix).

  87. 87.

    An-Na’im (2021, p. 3).

  88. 88.

    Branch and Mampilly (2015).

  89. 89.

    Rodríguez-Garavito (2014, p. 502).

  90. 90.

    Reinikka and Svensson (2005).

  91. 91.

    Lutz et al. (2010).

  92. 92.

    Qi (2005, p. 119).

  93. 93.

    Jin (2023, p. 303).

  94. 94.

    Soueif (2021).

  95. 95.

    Soueif (2021).

  96. 96.

    An-Na’im (2021, p. 1).

  97. 97.

    Power (2008, p. 12).

Further Reading

  • Anghie, Antony. 2006. The Evolution of International Law: Colonial and Postcolonial Realities. Third World Quarterly 27: 739–753.

  • Aristide, Jean-Bertrand. 2000. Eyes of the Heart. Monroe, ME: Common Courage Press.

  • Collier, Paul. 2009. Wars, Guns and Votes: Democracy in Dangerous Places. New York: Harper.

  • Dalai Lama. 2001. Human Rights and Universal Responsibility. In The Philosophy of Human Rights, ed. Patrick Hayden. St. Paul, MN: Paragon House.

  • Herre, Bastian, Pablo Arriagada, and Max Roser. 2023. Human Rights. Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/human-rights. Accessed 11 August 2023.

  • Human Rights Can Be Manifested Differently. 2005. China Daily. December 12. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-12/12/content_502587.htm. Accessed 11 August 2023.

  • Levitsky, Steven, and Daniel Ziblatt. 2018. How Democracies Die. New York: Crown Publishing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Humanities, Augustana University, Sioux Falls, SD, USA

    Stephen Minister

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Minister, S. (2024). Are Human Rights and Democracy Universal?. In: How to Think Ethically about Global Issues. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-56510-6_11

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