The book revolves around the role of the US federal government in the protection and promotion of human rights at the global level. A comparative analysis of human rights policy of different US Presidencies toward various regions of the world is analysed. The book discusses the broad theoretical perspectives on human rights and goes on to trace the growth and development of human rights in the US foreign policy from the time of American Declaration of Independence of 1776. In particular, it assesses the role of Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in addressing the global human rights issues. Besides, the US policy toward the former Soviet Union, China and Latin America has also been elaborately examined. The US Declaration of Independence of 1776 together with the Bill of Rights of 1791 constitutes the bedrock of US commitment and dedication to human rights. The great American statesmen—Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt and Carter rendered yeomen service to the cause of human rights, both at home and the world at large. However, in practice, the concern for human rights during the successive US administrations has not been consistent as there were occasions when the US gave greater weightage to strategic-military relations and economic considerations than to human rights. Besides, there were instances when the US became a passive collaborator to human rights abuses committed by several of its allies, particularly in Latin America and Asia. Also, there were certain Presidencies as Nixon and Reagan that gave more rhetorical speeches and statements on human rights with little follow-up action. On the whole, the US human rights policy has been active, assertive and dynamic, and its application been region and situation specific.

This book sets out the critical controversies which are necessary for an understanding of the nature of international human rights and their relation to U.S. foreign policy. It considers the human rights policies pursued by the United States in international organizations.

This book emphasizes a forgotten aspect of human rights, i.e., to establish that human rights captures its meaning from human activism and advocacy. It explores factors which drive the advocacy of human rights integrating religious values reflected in human rights law. The book explores human rights activism in the history of ideas and the contributions of Celtic culture. It develops the framework for understanding the human rights struggle and the advocacy functions which drive it, exploring the critical role of emotion in the form of sentiment, either positive or negative, that promotes or prevents human rights violations. The negative sentiment chapter explores the major forms of human rights violations. Positive sentiment explores the role of affect, empathy and human solidarity in the promotion of the culture of human rights. Further chapters explore affect, gender, and sexual orientation, human rights and socio-economic justice, human rights and revolution, transitional justice, indigenous human rights, nuclear weapons and intellectual property.

This study is a critique of the institutional structures and cultural dynamics that pose obstructions to U.S. ratification. The United States is a liberal democratic state founded upon ideals of freedom and equality, thus the history of non-ratification of major international human rights treaties appears to be an anomaly. This book suggests that it is not. Liberal democracy, as it was conceived and has developed in the United States, is problematic as a model in the globalization of concern for women's human rights. This study is not a comparative examination of state exclusion and oppression of women. Neither is it an attempt to distinguish the United States in the larger sense from other Western liberal democratic regimes in its treatment of women. Rather, the study is a gender-sensitive examination of specific dynamics and characteristics inherent to the socio-political, economic, and legal systems of the United States which have precluded incorporation of the rights of women on an equal basis with the rights of men. The interaction of these dynamics and characteristics describes a uniquely American view of itself and its own history which serves to render the U.S. system troublesome as an examplar for state incorporation of the human rights of women. Unreserved ratification of CEDAW constitutes a strong indication of effort, by the ratifying state, to protect the human rights of women. The United States has refused to ratify CEDAW.

Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy provides a comprehensive historical overview and analysis of the complex and often vexing problem of understanding the formation of U.S. human rights policy. The proper place of human rights and fundamental freedoms in U.S. foreign policy has long been debated among scholars, politicians, and the American public. Clair Apodaca argues that the history of U.S.human rights policy unfolds as a series of prevarications that are the result of presidential preferences, along with the conflict and cooperation among bureaucratic actors. Through a series of chapters devoted to U.S. presidential administrations from Richard Nixon to the present, she delivers a comprehensive historical, social, and cultural context to understand the development and implementation of U.S. human rights policy. For each administration, she pays close attention to how ideology, bureaucratic politics, lobbying, and competition affect the inclusion or exclusion of human rights in the economic and military aid allocation decisions of the United States. She further demonstrates that from the inception of U.S. human rights policy, presidents have attempted to tell only part of the truth or to reformulate the truth by redefining the meaning of the terms "human rights," "democracy," or "torture," for example. In this way, human rights policy has been about prevarication. Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy is a key text for students, which will appeal to all readers who will find a historically informed, argument driven account of the erratic evolution of U.S. human rights policy since the Nixon Administration.

This is the perfect guide to conducting a research project in politics and international relations. From formulating a research question and conducting a literature review to writing up and disseminating your work, this book guides you through the research process from start to finish. The book: - Is focused specifically on research methods in politics and IR - Introduces the central methodological debates in a clear, accessible style - Considers the key questions of ethics and research design - Covers both qualitative and quantitative approaches - Shows you how to choose and implement the right methods in your own project The book features two example research projects – one from politics, one from IR – that appear periodically throughout the book to show you how real research looks at each stage of the process. Packed full of engaging examples, it provides you with all you need to know to coordinate your own research project in politics and international relations.

During the first quarter-century of the Cold War, upholding human rights was rarely a priority in U.S. policy toward Latin America. Seeking to protect U.S. national security, American policymakers quietly cultivated relations with politically ambitious Latin American militaries—a strategy clearly evident in the Ford administration’s tacit support of state-sanctioned terror in Argentina following the 1976 military coup d’état. By the mid-1970s, however, the blossoming human rights movement in the United States posed a serious threat to the maintenance of close U.S. ties to anticommunist, right-wing military regimes. The competition between cold warriors and human rights advocates culminated in a fierce struggle to define U.S. policy during the Jimmy Carter presidency. In The Fate of Freedom Elsewhere, William Michael Schmidli argues that Argentina emerged as the defining test case of Carter’s promise to bring human rights to the center of his administration’s foreign policy. Entering the Oval Office at the height of the kidnapping, torture, and murder of tens of thousands of Argentines by the military government, Carter set out to dramatically shift U.S. policy from subtle support to public condemnation of human rights violation. But could the administration elicit human rights improvements in the face of a zealous military dictatorship, rising Cold War tension, and domestic political opposition? By grappling with the disparate actors engaged in the struggle over human rights, including civil rights activists, second-wave feminists, chicano/a activists, religious progressives, members of the New Right, conservative cold warriors, and business leaders, Schmidli utilizes unique interviews with U.S. and Argentine actors as well as newly declassified archives to offer a telling analysis of the rise, efficacy, and limits of human rights in shaping U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War.