The Classification of International Organizations, I

Classification is regarded by some as a very elementary and a very barren scientific device or method. For those who attach most importance to applied science, and to the achievement of practical ends, classification seems a dry and futile procedure. For those likewise who insist upon the importance of moral standards and purposes, the brutally empirical inductive process of classification seems inhuman, possibly even anti-social. That classification is an elementary task of science, in the sense of occurring early in the whole scientific process, no one could deny, albeit only some one who has had immediate and serious experience in classification can appreciate the advanced problems, both of theory and of application, which can be encountered therein. From the point of view of human interest, something would depend upon what is being classified, whether pearls or potatoes, for example, although it would seem to be an implied tenet of pure science that no knowledge of the universe is without value and that we are not able to say beforehand how important a given piece of knowledge will turn out to b

Human Rights Protection: The Role of Institutional Capacity and Selective Adaptation

This paper will examine the potential application of selective adaptation and institutional capacity to the understanding of international human rights norms and practices. Enforcement of international human rights norms depends on the capacity of intermediary institutions; that is, their ability to perform their assigned tasks. Institutional performance is in turn contingent on domestic political and socio-economic conditions, and as such, local conditions of rapid socio-economic and political transformation pose particular challenges. The other key concept in this paper, selective adaptation, describes a process by which practices and norms are exchanged across cultural boundaries. The dynamic of selective adaptation can operate to mediate international norms and local enforcement as in the case of the right to development — a right which differs markedly from the liberal ideals of individual rights. This paper will posit that selective adaptation may offer an approach to resolving tensions between other conflicting international and local human rights norms as well, and thereby provide a basis for mutual understanding and common commitment to recognizing and protecting the rights of all people

Gender Equality Rights and Trade Regimes: Coordinating Compliance

Taken together, the symposium papers and presentations illustrate the rich diversity of perspectives and issues emerging from the discourse of Coordinated Compliance with regard to specific issues on gender equality and trade, revealing a fundamental concern over human well-being along with an abiding commitment to scholarly rigor

Globalization and Economic Regulation in China: Selective Adaptation of Globalized Norms and Practices

This Article will examine changing norms and practices of economic regulation in China by reference to the dynamic of selective adaptation of norms of globalization

Human Rights and the Rule of Law: Implications for Canada-China Relations

China’s rise to prosperity has seen increased tension with international standards of human rights and the rule of law such that, after a lengthy period of tentative engagement China has more recently worked to change international standards to accommodate its interests. China’s approach to human rights and the rule of law has significant implications for Canada, not only for our bilateral relations but also in terms of the impacts on international institutions that are of vital interest to Canada. In response, Canada should pursue a program of selective engagement, that combines attention to China’s abuses of human rights and the rule of law with continuing engagement on issues of bilateral and global concern

China and the Human Right to Health: Selective Adaptation and Treaty Compliance

The international community has devoted considerable energy to dialogue and exchanges with China on issues of treaty compliance in areas of trade and human rights, and while many improvements are evident in China’s legal regimes for trade and human rights, problems remain. Further, academic and policy discourses on China’s trade and human rights policy and practice are all too often conflicted by normative differences and illusions about them. The paradigm of “selective adaptation” offers a potential solution by examining compliance with international trade and human rights treaties by reference to the interplay between normative systems associated with international rule regimes and local socio-cultural norms that affect treaty interpretation and application.This paper will focus on China’s human rights discourse on human rights to subsistence and development, and China’s practices around the human right to health, as these provide useful examples of the selective adaptation paradigm. China’s official policies on the right to subsistence and development reveal the power and resiliency of official norms of governance and their capacity to temper international standards on human rights, while questions about China’s compliance with international standards pertaining to human rights in health warrant particular attention both because of the global implications of China’s handling of infectious diseases and the effects on the well-being of the Chinese people. The paradigm of selective adaptation suggests that questions about China’s compliance with international standards on human rights to health cannot be explained by reference to normative conflict or to the particularities of China’s socio-historical conditions. Rather, the problems seem primarily political and institutional. This, in turn, can help share local and international responses. Government commitments to greater transparency in reporting on infectious disease, increased government financial support for public access to health care, and a greater level of cooperation with international organizations charged with implementing human rights to health will be essential components of China’s effort to improve its record of compliance with international human rights standards concerning health