Suchergebnisse

Cover -- Title Page -- Copyright Page -- CONTENTS -- 1 Introduction: The Uses of Rights in Political Conflict -- PART I. PREPARING FOR CONFLICT -- 2 Rights as Rallying Cries: Mobilizing Support -- 3 Rights as Shields and Parries: Countering Threats -- PART II. CONTENDING WITH FOES -- 4 Rights as Camouflage: Masking Motives -- 5 Rights as Spears: Overturning Laws -- 6 Rights as Dynamite: Destroying Cultures -- PART III. THWARTING THIRD PARTIES -- 7 Rights as Blockades: Suppressing Subordinates -- 8 Rights as Wedges: Breaking Coalitions -- 9 Conclusion -- Acknowledgments -- Appendix -- Notes -- Index.

An in-depth look at the historic and strategic deployment of rights in political conflicts throughout the worldRights are usually viewed as defensive concepts representing mankind's highest aspirations to protect the vulnerable and uplift the downtrodden. But since the Enlightenment, political combatants have also used rights belligerently, to batter despised communities, demolish existing institutions, and smash opposing ideas. Delving into a range of historical and contemporary conflicts from all areas of the globe, Rights as Weapons focuses on the underexamined ways in which the powerful wield rights as aggressive weapons against the weak.Clifford Bob looks at how political forces use rights as rallying cries: naturalizing novel claims as rights inherent in humanity, absolutizing them as trumps over rival interests or community concerns, universalizing them as transcultural and transhistorical, and depoliticizing them as concepts beyond debate. He shows how powerful proponents employ rights as camouflage to cover ulterior motives, as crowbars to break rival coalitions, as blockades to suppress subordinate groups, as spears to puncture discrete policies, and as dynamite to explode whole societies. And he demonstrates how the targets of rights campaigns repulse such assaults, using their own rights-like weapons: denying the abuses they are accused of, constructing rival rights to protect themselves, portraying themselves as victims rather than violators, and repudiating authoritative decisions against them. This sophisticated framework is applied to a diverse range of examples, including nineteenth-century voting rights movements; the American civil rights movement; nationalist, populist, and religious movements in today's Europe; and internationalized conflicts related to Palestinian self-determination, animal rights, gay rights, and transgender rights.Comparing key episodes in the deployment of rights, Rights as Weapons opens new perspectives on an idea that is central to legal and political conflicts

"Human rights, environmentalism, and global justice: these transnational movements today face fierce opposition from networks of conservative activists promoting contrary aims. In this groundbreaking book, Clifford Bob analyzes the clashes, proposing a new model of global policy making - and unmaking. This highlights the battle of networks, marked by exclusionary strategies, negative tactics, and dissuasive ideas. Bob first investigates the fight over gay rights, in which a coalition of religious conservatives, the "Baptist-burqa" network, confronts human rights groups at the United Nations and in such countries as Sweden, Romania, and Uganda. Next, he examines conflicts over gun control, pitting firearms enthusiasts against disarmament and safety advocates in the UN, Brazil, and elsewhere. Bob's provocative findings extend beyond the culture wars. With its critical conclusions about norms, activists, and institutions, this book will change how campaigners fight, analysts study international issues, and all of us think about global politics"--

Introduction : fighting for new rights / Clifford Bob -- Orphaned again? Children born of wartime rape as a non-issue for the human rights movement / R. Charli Carpenter -- "Dalit rights are human rights" : untouchables, NGOs, and the Indian state / Clifford Bob -- Applying the gatekeeper model of human rights activism : the U.S.-based movement for LGBT rights / Julie Mertus -- From resistance to receptivity : transforming the HIV/AIDS crisis into a human rights issue / Jeremy Youde -- Disability rights and the human rights mainstream : reluctant gate-crashers? / Janet E. Lord -- New rights for private wrongs : female genital mutilation and global framing dialogues / Madeline Baer and Alison Brysk -- Economic rights and extreme poverty : moving toward subsistence / Daniel Chong -- Local claims, international standards, and the human right to water / Paul J. Nelson