Politics of Human Rights

Human rights is an important issue in contemporary politics, and the last few decades have also seen a remarkable increase in research and teaching on the subject. This book introduces students to the study of human rights and aims to build on their interest while simultaneously offering an alternative vision of the subject. Many texts focus on the theoretical and legal issues surrounding human rights. This book adopts a substantially different approach which uses empirical data derived from research on human rights by political scientists to illustrate the occurrence of different types of human rights violations across the world. The authors devote attention to rights as well as to responsibilities, neither of which stops at one country's political borders. They also explore how to deal with repression and the aftermath of human rights violations, making students aware of the prospects for and realities of progress.

'This is the first true human rights textbook. It is comprehensive, has a consistent voice, and introduces students to quantitative approaches to the global, comparative study of human rights. Chapters conclude with suggestions for further reading, relevant websites and films - all with valuable annotations by the authors.' David Cingranelli, Binghamton University, SUNY, 'Carey, Gibney and Poe explain clearly and accessibly how human rights work, grounding their argument solidly in empirical research. This book provides a valuable resource for readers seeking to deepen their understanding of this crucially important subject.' Michael Goodhart, University of Pittsburgh, 'The Politics of Human Rights is an innovative, challenging and truly social-scientific treatment of the topic. It is the full tour, from philosophical origins to the post-violation cleanup, replete with examples and, adding to its appeal, complete with an informed guide to relevant films.' Neil J. Mitchell, University of Aberdeen

Sabine C. Carey is Associate Professor and Reader in Political Science in the School of Politics and International Relations at the University of Nottingham and the Centre for the Study of Civil War (CSCW) at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo. Mark Gibney is Belk Distinguished Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. Steven C. Poe was Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of North Texas.