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Human Rights and Legal Judgments

Human Rights and Legal Judgments

Human Rights and Legal Judgments

The American Story
Editor:
Austin Sarat, Amherst College, Massachusetts
Austin Sarat, Cynthia Soohoo, Erika George, David Sloss, Stephen A. Simon, William Brewbaker
Published:
December 2018
Availability:
Available
Format:
Paperback
ISBN:
9781316648117

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    Human rights can be defined as the basic fundamental rights inherent to all human beings in any society. How these rights are made available and protected in individual countries is an area of much study and debate. Focusing on the significance of human rights in American law and politics, this book seeks to understand when, where, and how American law recognizes and responds to claims made in the name of human rights. How are they used by social movements as they advance rights claims? When are human rights claims accommodated and resisted? Do particular kinds of human rights claims have greater resonance domestically than others? What cultural and psychological factors impede the development of a human rights culture in the United States? This is an exciting and engaging volume that will appeal to a broad range of scholars, practitioners, and students interested in the study of human rights.

    • Explores the relevance of human rights to American law and politics
    • Takes up the domestic life of human rights, and questions whether America offers 'an example at home' in the realm of human rights
    • Argues that, while the language of human rights may be universal, its reality in the United States is not clearly defined

    Reviews & endorsements

    'This book incorporates work from scholars and practitioners, each of which make nuanced and bold arguments that are likely to be challenged by other academics. However, this is certainly a good thing. It will spark debates on the importance of human rights, which is imperative if progress is to be made on the domestic acceptance of international human rights in the US.' Alice Storey, Human Rights Law Review

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    Product details

    December 2018
    Paperback
    9781316648117
    155 pages
    229 × 152 × 8 mm
    0.25kg
    Available

    Table of Contents

    • Introduction: human rights in American law and politics Austin Sarat
    • 1. Human rights, solitary confinement, and youth justice in the United States Cynthia Soohoo
    • 2. The story of environmental justice and race in the United States: international human rights and equal environmental protection Erika George
    • 3. Incorporation, federalism, and international human rights David Sloss
    • 4. Why do international human rights matter in American decision-making? Stephen A. Simon
    • Afterword: instrumental human rights William Brewbaker.
      Contributors
    • Austin Sarat, Cynthia Soohoo, Erika George, David Sloss, Stephen A. Simon, William Brewbaker

    • Editor
    • Austin Sarat , Amherst College, Massachusetts

      Austin Sarat is William Nelson Cromwell professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science at Amherst College, Massachusetts. He is author or editor of over ninety books in the fields of law and political science. His book When Government Breaks the Law: Prosecuting the Bush Administration was named one of the best books of 2010 by The Huffington Post.