Gender Justice, Development, And Rights (Oxford Studies in Democratization) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199256454 ISBN 13: 9780199256457

Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A., 2005

Synopsis

The 1990s represented a shift in the international development agenda in the direction of a greater emphasis on rights and democracy. This brought many positive changes in women's rights and political representation as well as in human rights more broadly. In much of the world, however, these advances were not matched by significant progress in the achievement of greater social justice. Rising income inequalities, coupled with widespread poverty in many countries, have been accompanied by record levels of crime and violence. Meanwhile the global shift in the consensus over the role of the state in welfare provision has in many contexts entailed the down-sizing of public services and the re-allocation of service delivery to commercial interests, charitable groups, N.G.O.s and households. Liberalism and its Discontents reflects on this ambivalent record, and on the significance accorded in international development policy to rights and democracy in the post-Cold War era. Key items on the contemporary policy agenda-neo-liberal economic and social policies; democracy; and multiculturalism-are addressed here by leading scholars and regional specialists through theoretical reflections and detailed case studies. Together they constitute a collection which casts contemporary liberalism in a distinctive light by applying a gender perspective to the analysis of political and policy processes. Case studies from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, East-Central Europe, South and South-east Asia contribute a cross-cultural dimension to the analysis of contemporary liberalism-the dominant value system in the modern world-and how it exists, and is resisted, in developing and post-transition societies.

About this title

Review

... timely ... The case for a holistic approach to women's rights is powerfully argued, and empirically evidenced, together with the case for universal state provision to guarantee key social rights. Gender Justice, Development, and Rights is an extremely relevant contribution to social policy debates internationally as well as more locally, in the British context. (Journal of Social Policy)

Synopsis

Recent years have seen a shift in the international development agenda in the direction of a greater emphasis on rights and democracy. While this has brought many positive changes in women's rights and political representation, in much of the world these advances were not matched by increases in social justice. Rising income inequalities, coupled with widespread poverty in many countries, have been accompanied by record levels of crime and violence. Meanwhile the global shift in the consensus over the role of the state in welfare provision has in many contexts entailed the down-sizing of public services and the re-allocation of service delivery to commercial interests, charitable groups, NGOs and households. "Gender Justice, Development, and Rights" reflects on this ambivalent record, and on the significance accorded in international development policy to rights and democracy in the post-Cold War era. Key items on the contemporary policy agenda - neo-liberal economic and social policies; democracy; and multiculturalism - are addressed here by leading scholars and regional specialists through theoretical reflections and detailed case studies.

Together they constitute a collection which casts contemporary liberalism in a distinctive light by applying a gender perspective to the analysis of political and policy processes. Case studies from Latin America, sub-Saharan Africa, Middle East, East-Central Europe, South and South-east Asia contribute a cross-cultural dimension to the analysis of contemporary liberalism - the dominant value system in the modern world - and how it exists, and is resisted, in developing and post-transition societies.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A.
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0199256454
• ISBN 13: 9780199256457
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 512
• Editor: Molyneux Maxine