POL test 2 Flashcards
Woodrow Wilson
Proposed “Making the world safe for democracy” as the war goal of WWI
Atlantic charter
Policy statement issued in early WWII that defined Allied goals for the post war world
Contained the four freedoms (four freedoms that everyone in the wowrld should enjoy) FDR
Eleanor Roosevelt
Commission chair for the UN commission of human rights
Drafted and secured adoption of the Universal declaration of human rights
Soft enforcement in promoting human rights examples and organizations
Conducting inquiries and exposing violations
UNICEF, world health organization
Hard enforcement in promoting human rights
Sanctions (economic, diplomatic, cultural)
When was military force used for human rights
Kosovo
Genocide definition and post war example
deliberate killing of a specific group of people
Rwanda (1994)
International crime court in the Hague
Created in 2002 to punish individuals for crimes against humanity
British government
Number of representatives elected to congress equals the number of people who votes. Not winner takes all
US governement
Winner takes all
Single member districts
conditions that favor democracy
- Culture of tolerance, commerce, acceeptance of majority values
- Toleration of ethnic, religious plurality
- Economic development, prosperity (free market economy, capitalism)
- Sizable middle class
features of a democracy
- Political parties
- Interest groups
- Civil society
- Global civil society
Democratic peace theory
Functional democracies do not go to war with eachother
Countries where the US successfully promoted democracy
West Germany
Italy
Japan
Countries where the US failed to promote democracy
South Vietnam
Latin America
Obama administration approach to promoting democracy
More cautious to promoting democracy via US intervention
Causes of the Arab spring
began as popular protests against autocratic regimes
Pro-democracy and Pro-western individualism with a strong Islamic role
Results of the Arab spring
Tunisia: Overthrow of a longtime president (democratic transition)
Egypt: Overthrow of the Mubarak regime (democratically elected a new president)
Human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia
- Political dissidents and human rights activists are arrested for their peaceful protests
- Discrimination against women and minorities
Discrimination against women in Saudi Arabia
- Women must always have a male guardian
- Women cant expose parts of their body
- Cannot marry without permission
- Not allowed to drive
Human rights abuses in Cuba
- Repression of political criticism through beatings, public acts of shaming, termination of employment
- unfair trials and long imprisonment
- limits on freedom of expression (assembly, freedom of the press)
US relations with Saudi Arabia. Why is it hard to fight for human rights there
Major allie of the US in the middle east
We need their oil
Cannot sanction them because without them we would not have the oil that we need
Soft enforcement: collecting inquiries and exposing violations
US relations with Cuba. Why is it difficult to prevent human rights abuses there
The US sanctioned Cuba economically in the 1960s and only agreed to lift this embargo if Cuba became a democracy and stopped their human rights abuses: hard enforcement
This has not been working so the US has removed the sanctions to try a different approach (difficult because the sanctions arent working)
Origins of human rights
Stoics- Cicero (how to perfect the imperfections of human nature)
Magna Carta
WWII FDR Four Freedoms
Holocaust
