Critiques

Question 1

What are the main categories of critiques discussen in Moeckli et al.?

Answer 1

• realist
  
  • state’s don’t act out of a moral obligation but are driven by their own self-interest, power and the pursuit of national security, meaning that states can overlook and violate human rights if it serves their strategic goals
  • emphasises the importance of concidering geopolitical realities
  • human rights are a noble concept, but the practical challenges of int. politics may limit their effectiveness
  • ex. ignore a state’s human rights violations because they serve economic or security interests to a country
• utilitarian
  
  • some situations you can sacrifice or limit certain rights for the greater good because it will result in more overall happiness
  • ex. torture after 9/11
• marxist
  
  • human rights is a tool used by the ruling class to maintain control and protect their economic and social privilages
  • human rights may be seen as a way to distract people from addressing deeper issues of economic inequality and class struggle, emphasises individual freedoms, it may not adequately address systemic issues of poverty, exploitation, and unequal distribution of resources
• particularist (relativism v. universalism)
  
  • challenges that human right is an idea that can be a one-size-fits-all approach to rights that applies universally across all cultures and societies
• a universal set of human rights may bot be appropriate or respectful or the differences in culture, values or traditions
  
  • the human rights may not addess the specific challenges faced by different groups
  • encourages a more context-sensitive approach to human rights, recognizing and respecting cultural and social differences
  • ex. the freedom of speech is valued and protected in one culture does not necessarily align with another culture’s values
• feminist
  
  • human rights have often overlooked or marginalized women’s issues
  • these rights have historically been male-centric, created by men and neglected unique challenges and experiences faced by women
  • women not adequately represented in discussions about human rights
  • urges for a more inclusive and gender-sensitive approach to human rights
  • ex. CEDAW tries to be a response to this
• post-colonial
  
  • raises questions to how the concept of human rights has been shaped by historical colonial influences and whether it truly respects the cultural diversity and experiences of formerly colonized countries
  • western ideas are being forced on the rest of the world
  • the development and enforcement of human rights have often been influenced by western perspectives, reflecting the values and priorities of former colonial powers
  • ex. property rights might clash with indigenous peoples practices

Question 2

What are Eric Posner’s main arguments when critizising the human rights movement?

Answer 2

• the main problem is that human rights is hopelessly ambigous
• the human rights movement reflect a genuine desire for western states to help poorer people in other countries, but have failed
  
  • they need to abandon their utopian aspirations and learn from the lessons of development economics: one can only help those that want it, cannot force non-western states to adopt the western institutions etc.
  • western countries do not need to change, but non-western countries need to make massive changes in their behaviour, that can also be corruptes or undermined (as the lessons made by development economics) because western strategic interests are not always in line with those institutions

Question 3

What are David Kennedy’s main arguments when critizising the human rights movement?

Answer 3

• if you want to be taken seriously today you have to warp it up as a human rights issue
• more post-colonial critique?
• human rights are about participation and public law remedies, procedural law, and maybe a floor of living standard, but not about distribution of wealth and power in the private sphere

Question 4

What are some common things that the different human right critiques critizises?

Answer 4

• all emphasis the gap between the lived reality and the promise of human rights
• some criticise the concept of human rights beinf flawed, others criticise the way state practice has lived up to the theory (pracitcal critiques)