Human Rights in Another Key - Softcover

Galtung, Johan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0745613764 ISBN 13: 9780745613765

Publisher: Polity, 1994

Synopsis

This is a refreshingly original analysis of human rights, past and present, which sets out major new terms of reference for political debate, it will become a standard text in the human rights field.

About this title

About the Author

Johan Galtung is internationally renowned in his field and is the author of many books and articles on peace studies including Environment, development and military activity, (Norwegian Universities Press, 1982), Global Militarization (Ed. with Peter Wallensteen and Corlos Portales, Westview Press, 1985) and Europe in the Making (Crane Russak / Taylor and Francis Inc, 1989).

From the Back Cover

In this volume, Johan Galtung, best known through his highly acclaimed work in peace studies, develops a new approach to human rights. His argument is that the human rights tradition offers significant means to reduce violence in the world, although it needs recasting if it is to achieve this objective effectively.

The concept of human rights emerged out of the Western legal tradition and claims to be of universal application. However, the historical and cultural Western imprint on the idea of human rights leads to difficulties, theoretical and political. Galtung assesses these problems and focuses, in particular, on the failure of the legal tradition to take account of problems that are located in the economic and political structures of society and in cultural life more generally. He proposes to remedy these deficiencies by developing an accounting approach to human rights based on human needs, a structural analysis, and a clear examination of diverse social and cultural processes.

The result is a highly original account of human rights and a new approach to this important subject matter. Human Rights in Another Key will become a major reference point in all future discussions about human rights.

The concept of human rights emerged out of the Western legal tradition and claims to be of universal application. However, the historical and cultural Western imprint on the idea of human rights leads to difficulties, theoretical and political. Galtung assesses these problems and focuses, in particular, on the failure of the legal tradition to take account of problems that are located in the economic and political structures of society and in cultural life more generally. He proposes to remedy these deficiencies by developing an accounting approach to human rights based on human needs, a structural analysis, and a clear examination of diverse social and cultural processes.

The result is a highly original account of human rights and a new approach to this important subject matter. Human Rights in Another Key will become a major reference point in all future discussions about human rights.

Edition details

• Publisher: Polity
• Publication date: 1994
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0745613764
• ISBN 13: 9780745613765
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 192