Goodbye to Hegemony-Hello to Thinking Globally

While I was pleased to see a knowledgeable commentator offer the promise of a fresh approach to the decline of American empire, alas Parag Khanna’s provocative essay does not escape the delusions of your father’s realpolitique. What purports to be a broad-minded analysis of the quest for “global equilibrium” under changing conditions, ends up being a playbook for the scramble for global goodies—with a disturbing dash of Huntingtonian Yellow Peril China-bashing. The real lessons here are deeper: the danger of asking the wrong question, and the need to bring global knowledge into a global framework to understand 21 st-century realities

Doing Well By Doing Good

As Tom Porteous contends in The Guardian, a humane nation is a safer nation —and ultimately, a more prosperous, healthy, happy, and green one too. My recent book, Global Good Samaritans, explores how half a dozen disparate nations came to adopt relatively humanitarian foreign policies, and how this has benefited global governance and their own development. Let us explore the lessons of history that inspired the real (albeit uneven) contributions of countries like Sweden, Canada, and Costa Rica—and why this should inspire more states like the UK to become active human rights promoters

Introducción: violencia de género y relaciones internacionales

La violencia contra las mujeres (según la OMS, una de cada tres mujeres sufre violencia de género en el mundo) es una cuestión tanto de seguridad global como de derechos humanos. El impacto que estas violaciones de la seguridad humana tiene sobre el desarrollo, los conflictos, la salud pública y los flujos transnacionales es tan importante, que estas merecen ser estudiadas desde la perspectiva de las relaciones internacionales. La investigación académica sobre los vínculos entre el desarrollo neoliberal y la inseguridad, la respuesta a esta violencia a través de la movilización de las organizaciones internacionales para exigir reformas legales y de las políticas públicas, así como sobre el surgimiento de los movimientos sociales transnacionales, contribuye y enriquece la comprensión de las dinámicas y la dirección que toma la globalización y el bienestar de más de 1.000 millones de las habitantes de nuestro planeta

Slavery: From Public Crime to Private Wrong

The fight against slavery was the first international human rights movement, and the elimination of legalized bondage represented a hallmark of Western civilization. But the persistence and revival of this ancient evil shows that in an era of globalization, a prohibited public crime has morphed into a massive private wrong

Development as Power

While material progress towards the Millennium Development Goals is laudable, and pledges of new resources are necessary, we can never fully address poverty without talking about power. As Amartya Sen pointed out, true development depends on freedom

Citizenship, Rights, and Culture

Shortly after German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s repudiation of multiculturalism, the Soros Foundation announced the winners of its Fellowships for New Americans—an award for graduate study for foreign-born students whose career paths show initiative, accomplishment, and “commitment to the values expressed in the U.S. Constitution.” Dozens of America’s best and brightest are pursuing degrees in law, medicine, public policy, business, and the arts that will immensely enrich our national and global communities

Instant Karma : How Globalization Contests China\u27s Abuses

China’s rise from impoverished backwater to prospective superpower has been accompanied by the repression of tens of millions of its own people, at the hands of a nationalist, developmentalist government. Under contemporary conditions of globalization, suppression of civil liberties, domination of ethnic minorities, and unholy alliances with resource-rich dictatorships are no longer plausible requisites of this model—if they ever were. The broadening and deepening of economic globalization towards a more sustainable complex of political influence involves “soft power,” including international reputation and norms. Thus, China’s Olympian reach for true hegemony provides the best chance for human rights advocates to weave a transnational “invisible handcuff” that will restrain the worst excesses of China’s rulers, and build a base for the long-term empowerment of China\u27s civil society

Communicative action and human rights in colombia when words fail

By the 21st century, in most of Latin America a phased combination of international and civil society pressure has produced notable if incomplete human rights reform. Yet in Colombia, continuing assassinations, kidnappings, forced displacement, and torture have received limited international attention and met with a checkered state response. This essay will argue that the symbolic structure of the violations and political environment in Colombia, above and beyond material and institutional constraints, diminish civil society’s impact and state responsiveness. Communicative action and its failures are the key to the persistence of abuse and lag in international response in Colombia. Specifically, we will trace problems in the definition of rights, identification of victims, legitimacy claims of the state, discourse of causal attribution, and transnational communication dynamics.Para el siglo XXI, en la mayoría de Latinoamérica, una combinación de presión internacional y de la sociedad civil ha producido una reforma notable, si bien incompleta, por los derechos humanos. Sin embargo, en Colombia, asesinatos continuos, secuestros, desplazamiento forzado y tortura han recibido atención internacional limitada, y han tenido una respuesta Estatal mesclada. Éste ensayo argumentará que la estructura simbólica de las violaciones, y el ambiente político en Colombia, más allá de limitaciones institucionales o materiales, disminuyen el impacto de la sociedad civil y la respuesta del Estado. La acción comunicativa y sus carencias son la clave a la persistencia del abuso y la demora en la respuesta internacional en Colombia. Específicamente, rastrearemos problemas en la definición de derechos, identificación de victimas, reclamos de legitimidad del Estado, discurso de atribución causal, y las dinámicas de la comunicación transnacional

CommuniCative aCtion and human rights in Colombia When words fail la aCCión ComuniCativa y los dereChos humanos en Colombia Cuando las palabras fallan

Communicative action and human rights in Colombia • Alison Brysk 37 Resumen: Para el siglo XXI, en la mayoría de Latinoamérica, una combinación de presión internacional y de la sociedad civil ha producido una reforma notable, si bien incompleta, por los derechos humanos. Sin embargo, en Colombia, asesinatos continuos, secuestros, desplazamiento forzado y tortura han recibido atención internacional limitada, y han tenido una respuesta Estatal mesclada. Éste ensayo argumentará que la estructura simbólica de las violaciones, y el ambiente político en Colombia, más allá de limitaciones institucionales o materiales, disminuyen el impacto de la sociedad civil y la respuesta del Estado. La acción comunicativa y sus carencias son la clave a la persistencia del abuso y la demora en la respuesta internacional en Colombia. Específicamente, rastrearemos problemas en la definición de derechos, identificación de victimas, reclamos de legitimidad del Estado, discurso de atribución causal, y las dinámicas de la comunicación transnacional. Palabras clave: derechos humanos, relaciones internacionales, acción comunicativa, constructivismo, política latinoamericana comparada. Abstract By the 21st century, in most of Latin America a phased combination of international and civil society pressure has produced notable if incomplete human rights reform. Yet in Colombia, continuing assassinations, kidnappings, forced displacement, and torture have received limited international attention and met with a checkered state response. This essay will argue that the symbolic structure of the violations and political environment in Colombia, above and beyond material and institutional constraints, diminish civil society's impact and state responsiveness. Communicative action and its failures are the key to the persistence of abuse and lag in international response in Colombia. Specifically, we will trace problems in the definition of rights, identification of victims, legitimacy claims of the state, discourse of causal attribution, and transnational communication dynamics