International Studies Compendium Project

Extract

Comment on this article   This essay reviews research on the role of human rights as a factor influencing foreign policy decision making. This is a difficult task, because the boundaries of this topic are elusive and the content of research related to the topic, however defined, is ever changing. While explicit human rights discourse is relatively recent, there is a much longer history of research and writing on related topics such as “just wars,” humanitarian law, human security, and humanitarian interventions. Our review, therefore, is incomplete by necessity. We emphasize quantitative work in the field of political science since 1948 (when the UN Declaration on Human Rights was approved), and the role of human rights considerations in the making of US foreign policy. Following World War II, the underlying objective of international action was to discourage totalitarian regimes and guard against genocidal acts such as the Holocaust, and the study of human rights tended to take a legalistic approach that focused on international law and organization. The United Nations Charter and one of the first products of the United Nations, the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UNDHR), made human rights promotion the responsibility of all member nations. This commitment was reinforced when, in November 1962, the United Nations General Assembly passed Resolution 1761, a nonbinding ... log in or subscribe to read full text