Human Rights: Beyond the Liberal Vision [Paperback]

Human Rights is both a welcome contribution in its own right and an intellectually engaging stimulus to further work on its urgent themes. Human rights and global justice are among the fundamental issues of our day and a sociological perspective such as this one is sorely needed.Through a unique world-scale analysis, Blau and Moncada expose the hidden or unquestioned relationships between the global political-economy of neo-liberalism and 'structural reform' and the differential realities of human well being. This is a work of activist sociology in the best sense!Drawing on such classics as Adam Smith, Max Weber, Karl Polanyi, and Hannah Arendt, Judith Blau and Alberto Moncada offer a crushing indictment of the U.S. human rights record, made all the more shocking by cover-ups and justifications in the name of individual freedoms. The perfect primer for anyone interested in movements for global justice.This book analyzes the complex relationship between human rights and liberalism as two different worldviews, and how American liberalism impedes the recognition of human rights. In order to achieve democratic, equitable, and sustainable societies, people need to be accorded fundamental human rights and to grant these rights to others.There is growing recognition around the globe that people's fundamental human rights are being imperiled in a world economy that is being driven by multinationals, investors, and banks. The 'race to the bottom' and insatiable greed has intensified poverty and economic inequalities, fueled migration, and rapidly accelerated environmental degradation. The fates of all nations are interdependent and even though the U.S. is the prime driver of the new economy, Americans have likewise experienced declines over the past decades. Blau and Moncada outline the fundamental human rights that all people are entitled to and the important role that nations have in upholding these rights. Americans find it somewhat difficult to accept the basic premise olĂ