Contracting Human Rights

The securitization that accompanied many national responses after 11 September 2001, along with the shortfalls of neo-liberalism, created waves of opposition to the growth of the human rights regime. By chronicling the continuing contest over the reach, range, and regime of rights, Contracting Human Rights analyzes the way forward in an era of many challenges.Through an examination of both global and local challenges to human rights, including loopholes, backlash, accountability, and new opportunities to move forward, the expert contributors analyze trends across multiple-issue areas. These include; international institutions, humanitarian action, censorship and communications, discrimination, human trafficking, counter-terrorism, corporate social responsibility and civil society and social movements. The topical chapters also provide a comprehensive review of the widening citizenship gaps in human rights coverage for refugees, women?s rights in patriarchal societies, and civil liberties in chronic conflict.

This timely study will be invaluable reading for academics, upper-level undergraduates, and those studying graduate courses relating to international relations, human rights, and global governance.

Table of Contents

1 Introduction: contracting human rights

PART I GAPS

2 Contracting the refugee regime: the global citizenship gap

3 Has the occupation occupied Israel?

4 Expanding extractive industries, contracting indigenous rights? Gains, setbacks, and missed opportunities in Latin America

5 The bottom two billion: the global expansion of urban slums and second-class citizenship

PART II BACKLASH

6 The human rights costs of NGOs’ naming and shaming campaigns

7 Perils of success: backlash and resistance to LGBT rights in domestic and international politics

8 Human rights and democracy promotion in times of contraction: EU human rights and democratization policies in Egypt

9 From lawless to secret law: the United States, the CIA, and extra-judicial killings

PART III ACCOUNTABILITY

10 Whither accountability? Counter-terrorism and human rights at the United Nations Security Council

11 Backlash and international human rights courts

12 Retreat or retrenchment? An analysis of the International Criminal Court’s failure to prosecute presidents

13 Searching for accountability of the private sector: civil liability

of corporations for trafficking in human beings for the purpose of labour exploitation in the European context

PART IV OPPORTUNITIES

14 Business and human rights: exploring the limits of an expanding agenda on corporate responsibility

15 Digital media and human rights: Loomio, Statistics New Zealand, and gender identity

16 Beyond global vs. local: Islam, feminism, and women’s rights in Morocco

17 Contesting the citizenship gap: advocacy, core rights, and women’s rights reform

18 Conclusion: from hope to fear in the millennium: human 283 rights in an age of backlash

About the Authors

Alison Brysk, Distinguished Professor, Department of Global Studies and Political Science and Michael Stohl, Professor of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara, US