International Relations Theory Human Rights Formal Term Paper

International Relations Theory Human Rights Formal - Term Paper Example These instruments set universal standards against which national governments and individuals alike can measure their own compliance and compare it to that of others. Even when there is disagreement over the precise meaning, nature or scope of a particular human right, the fact that such dialogue exists at all demonstrates the widespread recognition of, and concern for, fundamental universal human rights. According to Conlon in 2004, human rights were among the more powerful ideas to emerge from the U.N. Charter along with peace, national self-determination, and development. After the drafting and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, to which all the countries of the world subscribe, at least rhetorically, the modern international human rights system developed slowly within the constraints of the Cold War. While there remains much to celebrate about the Universal Declaration and collateral human rights treaties, there have also been substantial complications in managing the political organization of such international obligations. Within the U.N., until the 1980s, the issue of human rights was essentially an ideological football, kicked back and forth in a match between West and East (Schwarz, 2004). Western players prioritized political and civil rights and their Eastern counterparts (usually backed up by southern reserves) economic and social rights. The divide was part of Cold War competition, which left little room for the possibility of joint promotion.Nevertheless, a wide range of international norms has been enshrined in legally binding international human rights instruments, and in a growing web of customary international law. Protections were established by treaty for those subjected to torture, for victims of racial discrimination, for children, and for women (Conlon, 2004). As neither the United States nor the Soviet Union deferred fully to this system during the Cold War, the protection of human rights remained more nominal than actual. The sovereign prerogatives of the superpowers trumped rights enforcement, with the U.N. system accepting non-compliance on many occasions. At present, the most promising avenues for the immediate actualization of global justice involve sensitive adjustments to variations of state and society makeup, as in the numerous peace, reconciliation, and accountability procedures established in a number of countries (Gandhi, 2000). Also encouraging are various collaborations between transnational social forces and those governments that are more value-oriented and sensitive to the claims of global justice, as opposed to those that define their role according to the maximization of power, wealth, and influence.