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Title: In Our Own Best Interests : How Defending Human Rights Benefits Us All by William Schulz ISBN: 0-8070-0227-5 Publisher: Beacon Press Pub. Date: 11 May, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.89 (9 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: In Defiance of Kant...in respect of common sense
Comment: To be honest, I really don't care to make people believe it's in their own self interest to care about human rights. I'd rather people give up caring about their own self interest altogether. But if I'm truly concerned about human rights, and dedicated to working for change, perhaps it has to be any port in a storm. If torture, rape, starvation and abuse are stemmed by the voice and demands of millions of people motivated by the wrong reasons, they are stemmed nonetheless. Right?
I think William F. Schulz would agree with me, and I venture a guess that such an argument convinced him to write this book. It is a well-researched and clearly written exposition of the ways that it truly is in our own best interest to care about human rights. He shows that political "realists" who believe that a country cannot afford to make human rights a priority when forming and implementing foreign policy are, despite their hard-nosed and pragmatic appearance, naive to believe that human rights don't matter.
For instance. Working democracies very, very rarely go to war with other working democracies. Thus it is in the best interest of the US to promote democracy across the world, and thus make stable allies. Of course, the definition of "working democracy" has to do with human rights -- democracy in itself is fundamentally based on a respect for each individual's voice and decision-making power, and where this is not respected (as in Milosevich's Yugoslavia) the stability does not exist.
For instance. As globalization races across the planet, political stability in a country is a vital element in a solid investment choice. The 3 basic factors that enhance political stability -- lack of corruption in government, rule of law, and feedback loops (freedom of press, independent investigation, etc.) are all intimately tied to human rights issues. Countries that abuse human rights are notoriously unstable. And instability scares away investors.
For instance. Crowded and unsanitary prison conditions are breeding grounds for disease. And in a world that gets ever smaller due to the ease of intercontinental travel, a super-strain of tuberculosis developed in a prison cell in China can easily have reached the other end of the world -- that's us in America -- in no time at all.
For instance. Torture not only provides unreliable information, it hardens whole communities againt their oppressors. To torture one terrorist may provide you with the names of five others, but likely motivates fifty others to become terrorists. And in a world as interconnected as ours is, where they will strike out has become wildly unpredictable.
And the instances continue. Schulz makes an incredibly convincing argument that we can no longer "let well enough alone". There are no isolated places, no isolated incidences in the world anymore, and it is indeed naive to think that such destructive forces as human rights abuses will have no effect on us. James the brother of Jesus tells us that if we know what good we ought to do and do not do it, we sin. And if that is not motivation enough, it is in our own best interest.
Rating: 5
Summary: Concise, readable, and wide-ranging; a superb summary
Comment: Let's start with the negative. The author comes from a religious background. The first chapter promotes the concept that commitment to human rights is related to religiosity, the most destructive force ever created by our species. If he ever mentioned the role of religious fundamentalism in war, torture, and human rights abuse in general, it was a minor comment. To be fair, he did explain that he was pragmatic ,and he obviously wants to reach politicians and CEO's, who rather effectively exclude atheists and secular humanists from their ranks. However, his comments in the first chapter were totally unnecessary and inappropriate. Virtually every advance in human rights has been opposed by mainstream religion and fundamentalist sects, and supported by atheists and agnostics.
Aside from the first chapter, the tempo builds, although it is not for the very squeamish. The litany of abuses is interspersed with detailed descriptions of individual experiences, and usually prefaces and followed by comments on the economic impact. Some examples were familiar to me, most were not. It is too easy to get lost in the stories and forget the main point that all life on this planet is interdependent, but there are enough reminders for the intelligent and attentive. (Of course GW5-4B will not read it!) The volume of references is impressive.
The issues balance in geography and American participation is difficult to judge. He fairly presents cases in which the United States is culprit and hero, but he slights the role of Arab regimes.
Rating: 2
Summary: Pro-Western Perspectives Prevents Work from Tackling Issues
Comment: This text could be quite beneficial to students: it's easy to read and covers a large number of countries. However, Mr. Schultz's vision and depth of understanding about human rights are severely weakened by a pro-U.S. and pro-west world view that renders it as useless as many of our partisan texts on world wide human rights abuses. Even though he notes how important it is for countries to first examine their own human rights record, he only discusses the US record in chapter seven of the text. He repeats the same old superficial human rights dogma that one finds in newspapers like USA Today. He rarely touches on the middle-east question, and the refusal by the Israeli government (with U.S. complicity) to recognize (and respect) a decent sized homeland for the Palestinians. This has proven to be the central human rights issue and abuse of our current time. I was saddened to know that the head of Amnesty International thinks so narrowly but understand why that organization has made so litte progress in this arena over the past few decades.
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Title: Good News for a Change: How Everyday People are Helping the Planet by David T. Suzuki, Holly Dressel, Gary L. Saunders ISBN: 155054926X Publisher: Greystone Books Pub. Date: September, 2003 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Field Guide to the Global Economy by Sarah Anderson, John Cavanagh, Thea Lee, Institute for Policy Studies ISBN: 1565844211 Publisher: New Press Pub. Date: February, 2000 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Democracy and the News by Herbert J. Gans ISBN: 0195151321 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: February, 2003 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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Title: Alternatives to Economic Globalization by John Cavanagh, Jerry Mander, Sarah Anderson, Debi Barker, Maude Barlow, Walden Bello, Robin Broad, Tony Clarke, Edward Goldsmith, Randy Hayes ISBN: 1576752046 Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Pub Pub. Date: 15 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Soul of a Citizen : Living With Conviction in a Cynical Time by Paul Rogat Loeb ISBN: 0312204353 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 15 March, 1999 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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