Review by Choice Review
Donnelly, among the best political scientists concentrating on human rights, has edited seven previously published essays and added six new chapters to produce an interesting, provocative general study. He focuses on the "moral universality" of human rights, as epitomized in the Universal Declaration on Human Rights. Individual sections examine human rights (1) as universal, (2) as historically derived from "liberalism" in the West, (3) as influenced in their implementation by diverse cultures and histories, (4) as linked to "development," and (5) as items of verbal agreement among countries with relatively limited enforcement beyond the state level. Human rights, he argues, are "ultimately a profoundly national, not international issue." The book provides a useful overview. Detailed analyses of development in Brazil and Korea, of caste in India, and Locke's Second Treatise provide meat for the theoretical framework. A theoretically more challenging book than the wide-ranging reader, Human Rights in the World Community, ed. by R. Claude and B.H. Westin (CH, Mar'80) and theoretically more challenging than International Handbook of Human Rights, ed. by J.Donnelly and R.E. Howard (CH, Jul'88). Upper-division undergraduates. C. E. Welch SUNY at Buffalo
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
