Suchergebnisse

Human rights play a crucial role in international relations. They provide standards to which states must conform when dealing with their own citizens. Non-governmental human rights organizations remind states of their obligations in that field. Without this, human rights would have drifted to the bottom of the international agenda

Human rights are always a matter of law, but they are increasingly a matter of politics. Much lip-service is paid nowadays to the notion of human rights. At the same time they are being violated all over the world. Peter Baehr presents a succinct introduction to the key theoretical and practical issues that will serve as a useful primer for students and researchers

In foreign policy-making there exists a tension between what the executive is prepared to do and what parliament or public interest groups would want it to do. A recent study of domestic pressure on foreignpolicy-making in the Netherlands has shown that there exists a close connection between the success of public interest groups in changing foreign policy behavior and their ability to mobilize parliamentary support for their efforts. That study, entitled Controversies at Home, was based on the results of 16 case-studies of recent controversial foreign policy decisions.Foreign ministries aften use the need for secrecy, coherence and consistency as arguments to resist change. The role of the national parliament in foreign policy-making deserves to be strengthened. In this respect some of the experiences of the United States Congress could be applied to parliaments in other countries. The possibilities are discussed with specific reference to the situation in the Netherlands.