POLSC402: The Origins of International Human Rights Law

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This video gives an overview of the origins of international human rights law, including the Geneva Conventions and earlier liberal political documents, primarily in the Western world.

Source: International Human Rights Law MOOC, https://youtu.be/XN9rlAj1eEM
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Last modified: Wednesday, May 22, 2024, 10:00 AM

Course Introduction

Course Syllabus

Unit 1: A Human Rights Context for Global Justice

1.1: The Development of Human Rights: A Brief History

The Origins of International Human Rights Law

John Locke and Human Rights Theory

Human Rights as an International Issue

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

1.2: Universal vs. Relative Rights

What are the Universal Human Rights?

Cultural Relativism and the Attitude of Certain Asian Countries Towards the Universality of Human Rights

Cosmopolitanism

Bandung 1955: Asian-African Conference and Human Rights

1.3: Individual vs. Collective Rights

Collective Rights

Individual and Group Rights

Individual versus Group Interest

1.4: Civil and Political Rights vs. Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

Trade and Investment Agreements and Human Rights

Health and Human Rights in the Era of Globalization

Achieving Environmental Justice through Human Rights Law

1.5: Justice and Human Rights

The Evolving Legitimacy of Humanitarian Interventions

Assessing the Responsibility to Protect

Sovereignty and Intervention, 1993-2013: Responsibility to Protect in Review

Gareth Evans on Humanitarianism and the R2P Doctrine

Unit 1 Assessment

Unit 1 Reading Questions

Unit 2: Origins of the Contemporary Justice and Rights Discourse

2.1: Grotius and Natural Right

Hugo Grotius

2.2: Hume and Utility

David Hume

An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals

2.3: Kantian Idealism

Kant, Cosmopolitanism, and Contemporary Political Philosophy

2.4: The Legitimacy and Authority of International Law

Schools of Legal Thought

The International Court of Justice as an institution

ICC Jurisdiction

Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court

The ICC Can't Live with Africa, But It Can't Live without It Either

The Invisibility of Race at the ICC

Africa and the ICC

2.5: The State of Nature among Sovereigns

Sovereignty: Rights and Duties

International Relations/Classical Realism

Unit 2 Assessment

Unit 2 Reading Questions

Unit 3: Political Theory and Global Justice

3.1: Nationalism and Cosmopolitanism

Nationalism vs. Cosmopolitanism (Part 1)

Comments on National Self-Determination

Miller on Nationality and Global Equality

A Response to Miller on Nationality and Global Equality

Revisiting White Nationalism: Demographic Dystopia and White Identity Politics

3.2: Obligation and the Relevance of Global Distributive Justice

The Demands of Global Justice

Is Global Rectificatory Justice Feasible?

3.3: Ethics and the Economic Aspects of Global Distributive Justice

A Theory of Justice (John Rawls)

The Story of a Book that Changed the Way we Think about Development

Unit 3 Assessment

Unit 3 Reading Questions

Unit 4: Empowerment, Agency, and Global Justice: Revisiting the Universal-Relative Debate

4.1: Empowerment, Agency, and Distributive Justice

Oppression and Power

4.2: Child Brides

Child Brides and Mail Order Brides

Eliminating Child Marriage in India

4.3: Child Soldiers

Child Soldiers

The Big Dilemma of Small Soldiers

Trauma, Violence, and Memory in African Child Soldier Memoirs

4.4: Resource Scarcity and Competition

The Human Right to Water and the Sustainable Development Goals