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Exorcising The Specter Of Development: Human Rights In The 21st Century, Frezzo, Farshad Araghi
Exorcising The Specter Of Development: Human Rights In The 21st Century, Frezzo, Farshad Araghi
Societies Without Borders
With the commodification of rights as private privileges under neoliberal capitalism, movements in the Global South have begun to reinterpret the human rights canon. Cosmopolitan notions of human rights have spread from the Global South only to face parochial resistance from postmodern intellectuals and neoliberal power structures in the Global North. In advancing a vision of “cosmopolitanism from below” as an antidote to neoliberalism, these alliances have articulated their demands in terms of economic and social rights. In the process, they have ruptured the connection - crucial to US hegemony from the late 1940s through the early 1970s - between …
Societies Without Borders: Human Rights & The Social Sciences, Welcome To Farshad Araghi - A Longer Title - More Issues Per Volume, Blau, Farshad Araghi
Societies Without Borders: Human Rights & The Social Sciences, Welcome To Farshad Araghi - A Longer Title - More Issues Per Volume, Blau, Farshad Araghi
Societies Without Borders
The article introduces Professor Farshad Araghi as co-editor and offers information on the contents of the journal. Araghi is the chair of the Department of Sociology at Florida Atlantic University and writes about global sociology, social theory, sociology of agriculture and human displacement and world-historical analysis. He received numerous awards including the Outstanding Graduate Teaching Award. The journal is a multidisciplinary incorporating the universality and borderlessness of human rights as a main theme.
'Doing Religion' Overseas: The Characteristics And Functions Of Ghanaian Immigrant Churches In Toronto, Canada, Mensah
Societies Without Borders
While the importance of immigrants' transnational economic activities is readily acknowledged, the cultural factors that facilitate their initiation and sustenance of memberships in multiple locations have been overlooked. It is this lacuna that the present study addresses, using Ghanaian immigrant churches in Toronto as a case study. The paper examines how Ghanaian immigrant churches were founded; how they are organized; and the kinds of social services they provide. While the churches facilitate the settlement of Ghanaian immigrants, through the provision of social services, they seem to, inadvertently, undermine their eventual integration into the broader Canadian society.
Beyond Collapse: Reclaiming Rationality And Scientific Method From The Global Disorder, Mcmurtry
Beyond Collapse: Reclaiming Rationality And Scientific Method From The Global Disorder, Mcmurtry
Societies Without Borders
This analysis explains why the currently instituted value-sets of “rationality” and “scientific method” select for unforeseen consequences of economic, social and ecological system collapse. Laying bare the era's unifying paradigm of “rational choice” across theory (e.g., game theory, contractarianism, prisoner's dilemma) and practice (global business, geostrategic analysis, armed war and mass-media sport), the analysis exposes the systematic disconnection of rationality and its lead vector of scientific method from the needs and capacities of life-systems. Only if rational and scientific standards are grounded in life-enabling purpose and means consistent with it, the argument shows, can they be made coherent with life …
Decent Society Index: A Research Note, Judith, Jenniffer Santos, Chelsea Sessoms
Decent Society Index: A Research Note, Judith, Jenniffer Santos, Chelsea Sessoms
Societies Without Borders
People everywhere are discovering that their own views about a decent society are widely shared around the world. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights already made this clear in 1948 by referring to “a common understanding” of rights and freedoms and a “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.” A challenge for social scientists is to develop dimensions for an index that measures variation in the extent to which societies are decent. Such an index would be useful in research for comparative and analytical purposes, and it could …
Discouragement Amongst Ageing Workers In Malta Within An Eu Context, Brown, Michael Briguglio
Discouragement Amongst Ageing Workers In Malta Within An Eu Context, Brown, Michael Briguglio
Societies Without Borders
This paper investigates perceptions of unemployed ageing workers in Malta, in relation to disadvantages in the labour market and to discouragement with regard to chances of finding stable employment. The principal results are that educational level and number of breadwinners in one's household significantly affect perceptions; and that there are cases manifesting the 'discouraged worker effect', even though they are still registering to find employment. This challenges traditional views arguing that this effect is present only among individuals who already gave up the job search completely. This paper concludes that the struggle for productive employment requires mass representation of trade …
Book Review Of A Brief History Of Neoliberalism, Keskin
Book Review Of A Brief History Of Neoliberalism, Keskin
Societies Without Borders
The article reviews the book "A Brief History of Neoliberalism," by David Harvey.
Book Review Of Transnational Civil Society: An Introduction And Contested Citizenship: Immigration And Cultural Diversity In Europe, Ghoshal
Societies Without Borders
The article reviews two books about civil society and citizenship, including "Transnational Civil Society: An Introduction," edited by Srilatha Batliwala and L. David Brown and "Contested Citizenship: Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Europe," by Ruud Koopmans, Paul Statham, Marco Giungi and Florence Passy.
Japan's Contribution To Global Constitutionalism, Kimijima
Japan's Contribution To Global Constitutionalism, Kimijima
Societies Without Borders
In this paper I want to approach the theme of “globalization and Japan” from the standpoint of constitutional studies. Constitutions and constitutionalism are important means of reining in political power, and in the modern sovereign state system, constitutions and constitutionalism have been conceived on the level of single states. However, as many scholars have observed, one can see the global spread of power in, for example, the worldwide deployment of the US military using overseas bases throughout the world, and the worldwide activities of transnational corporations based in the US, Europe, and Japan. In sum, this is the global spread …
Note From The Editors, Blau, Farshad Araghi
Note From The Editors, Blau, Farshad Araghi
Societies Without Borders
The article offers information on the journal "Societies Without Borders: Human Rights and the Social Sciences" and the categories that editors will consider in accepting manuscripts for the journal.
Arguments For And Against Social Rights, Garrido Gómez
Arguments For And Against Social Rights, Garrido Gómez
Societies Without Borders
I investigate the semantic and practical complexity of social rights, together with the obligations which correspond to the public authorities in terms of putting them into practice. I also discuss the role of meaningful economic equality in the discourse of social rights, explaining the points at which the two concepts interact, and the ways that formal equality can be improved. Finally, I reach the conclusion that there are two distinct meanings of the concept of discrimination, one which is equivalent to any violation of the general principal of equality, and another stricter one, which is the infringement of equality when …
Immigrants' Rights In The Public Sphere: Hannah Arendt's Concepts Reconsidered, San Martín
Immigrants' Rights In The Public Sphere: Hannah Arendt's Concepts Reconsidered, San Martín
Societies Without Borders
Based on Arendt's concepts of public and private spheres, immigration issues can be approached from an emphasis on how the most fundamental of all human rights, which is being denied to immigrants, is the most basic constituent of the human condition: the ability to interact in the public realm through action and speech. The granting of this right would enable immigrants to become unique human beings, with the capacity for transformation. As they are presently deprived of these and other rights, they are confined to the most primitive sphere, that is, the one of pure survival. Therefore, a differentiation must …
Under A Global Mask: Family Narratives And Local Memory In A Global Social Movement In Japan, Nomiya
Under A Global Mask: Family Narratives And Local Memory In A Global Social Movement In Japan, Nomiya
Societies Without Borders
The present paper examines motivational aspects of the global peace movement, using as a case the World Peace Now movement in Japan. This campaign, which has extensive international networks and synchronized actions with global “waves of protest”, is part of a global anti-war protest movement. Using data collected from interviews and a protest survey to gauge participation motives and attributed meanings to the participation, the paper argues that the campaign, despite its global outlook, is localized and historically idiosyncratic. Indifferent to the global, participants' motives are drawn from personal experiences and family narratives, and localized collective memory of the past. …
Windows On The Ninth World Social Forum In Belém, Velitchkova, Jackie Smith, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick
Windows On The Ninth World Social Forum In Belém, Velitchkova, Jackie Smith, Austin Choi-Fitzpatrick
Societies Without Borders
This essay provides three windows on the Ninth World Social Forum in Belém, Brazil. We show the multiple ways in which the World Social Forum's plurality and reflexivity challenge traditional dichotomies to build the foundation for a new politics. We argue that the social forum process has developed mechanisms for remaining an open space while simultaneously creating opportunities for unified collective action. We show that the Forum produces complex analyses and comes up with strategies that correspond to these analyses. We provide some evidence for how the social forum process is trying to overcome organizational challenges related to resource distribution …
Domestic Violence And Women's Rights In Nigeria, Bazza
Domestic Violence And Women's Rights In Nigeria, Bazza
Societies Without Borders
Studies have shown that globally domestic violence accounts for nearly one quarter of all recorded crimes. Women have been subjected to various forms of violence ranging from rape, battering, trafficking and even murder. Although the degree differs from society to society, the occurrence has profound and destructive consequences including psychological, physical, emotional and social disorders. The fact that domestic violence prevails across all strata of the Nigerian society is no longer debatable. Despite the spirited efforts made by the world bodies such as the United Nations (e.g. Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights) …
Women, Peace And Security: An Analysis Of The National Action Plans Developed In Response To Un Security Council Resolution 1325, Gumru, Jan Marie Fritz
Women, Peace And Security: An Analysis Of The National Action Plans Developed In Response To Un Security Council Resolution 1325, Gumru, Jan Marie Fritz
Societies Without Borders
This research analyzes the 11 national action plans that were adopted between June 2005 and October 2008 as a response to the United Nations Security Council's Resolution 1325. Resolution 1325, one of the most important UN resolutions within the field of peace and security, was adopted unanimously on 31 October 2000. The resolution highlights the consequences of violent conflict on women and girls and the important role of women in peacebuilding and post-conflict processes. In 2002 and again in 2004, UN member states were invited to prepare national action plans in order to take strong steps towards the implementation of …
Global Movement Coalitions: The Global South And The World Trade Organization In Cancun, Esparza
Global Movement Coalitions: The Global South And The World Trade Organization In Cancun, Esparza
Societies Without Borders
A group of developing countries within the World Trade Organization, called the G22, formed in 2003 to bring attention to important economic concerns of the Global South. This coalition building at the global level is instructive to the literature on social movement coalition building and strategies in a transnational context. This article examines coalition building among nation-states within the context of the WTO. Drawing upon existing trading blocs, the G22 are able to leverage attention away from the WTO consensus. The declining significance of the global institution is a result of the breaking of this consensus.
In Your Hands - The Realization Of A Dream, Koenig
In Your Hands - The Realization Of A Dream, Koenig
Societies Without Borders
The author talks about Human Rights Cities, an initiative wherein communities learn about human rights as a way of life. The author discusses the achievements of the People's Movement for Human Rights Learning (PDHRE) as an international service organization. She states that Human Rights Cities enables all citizens to participate as equals in the decision-making processes which affect their lives. She cites the impact of the Human Rights Cities on the lives of the Toba indigenous community in Rosario, Argentina.
Review Of Bringing Human Rights Home, Neubeck
Review Of Bringing Human Rights Home, Neubeck
Societies Without Borders
The article reviews the three volumes of the book "Bringing Human Rights Home," edited by Cynthia Soohoo, Catherine Albisa and Martha F. Davis, including "A History of Human Rights in the United States," volume 1, by Elizabeth Borgwardt, "From Civil Rights to Human Rights," volume 2, by Dorothy Thomas, and "Portraits of the Movement," volume 3, by Greg Asbed.
World Social Forum 2009: Time To Bring The Wsf To The Usa, Ponniah
World Social Forum 2009: Time To Bring The Wsf To The Usa, Ponniah
Societies Without Borders
I had the opportunity to both attend the Inauguration of the 44th President of the United States and to participate in the World Social Forum hosted in Belém, Brazil. The Inaugural was attended by 1.8 million citizens, which included a notably large percentage of African-Americans, from all over the country. The World Social Forum had over 133,000 participants from around the world with a substantial number of Pan-Amazonic social movements. In both cases I witnessed a mobilized, dynamic civil sphere aspiring to a new, better society. The key to achieving another world is to bring these spheres together.
Review Of Globalization And America: Race, Human Rights And Inequality & When Welfare Disappears: The Case For Economic Human Rights, Ramsaran
Societies Without Borders
The article reviews two books on human rights, including "Globalization and America: Race, Human Rights and Inequality," edited by Angela J. Hattery, David G. Embrick and Earl Smith, "When Welfare Disappears; The Case for Economic Human Rights," by Kenneth J. Neubeck.
W.E.B. Du Bois, Race, And Human Rights, Elias
W.E.B. Du Bois, Race, And Human Rights, Elias
Societies Without Borders
Du Bois' sociological thought reveals an overlooked tension in the pursuit of human rights, a tension between universal human rights for all people, in general, and a race-specific human rights agenda for blacks, in particular. Du Bois recognizes both universal human rights for all individuals, groups, nations, and international bodies (regardless of race, gender, class, and other human divisions) and case-specific human rights for particular individuals, groups, nations, and international bodies (with regard to race, gender, class, and other human divisions). I aim to demonstrate why Du Bois' acknowledgment of universal and case-specific human rights, and dynamics of their interrelationship, …
From Rights To Justice: Women Of Color Changing The Face Of Us Reproductive Rights Organizing, Luna
From Rights To Justice: Women Of Color Changing The Face Of Us Reproductive Rights Organizing, Luna
Societies Without Borders
The history of government racism is part of the explanation of the limited contemporary use of human rights in the US. This history poses a challenge to mainstream organizations' ability to organize using human rights, yet some contemporary organizations embrace these concepts that are in full use within international settings. This article focuses on the emergent reproductive justice movement, a women of color-based social movement which complicates the narrow focus on protection of legislation such as Roe v. Wade by integrating human rights analysis of domestic social problems. In doing so, this paper expands understanding of uses of human rights …
Si Me Permiten Hablar: Limitations Of The Human Rights Tradition To Address Racial Inequality, Bonilla-Silva, Sarah Mayorga
Si Me Permiten Hablar: Limitations Of The Human Rights Tradition To Address Racial Inequality, Bonilla-Silva, Sarah Mayorga
Societies Without Borders
In this paper we address some of the major limitations of the human rights tradition (HRT) in addressing issues of racial inequality. We contend that the universalist and individual-based framework of HRT fails to appreciate the significance of society's racial structure. More importantly, HRT ignores how race fractured the world system creating differently valued human bodies. In addition to addressing some of the shortcomings of HRT, we present challenges for those in the tradition and advance several alternatives for academics who want to work towards the elimination of race-based inequality in the world.
Invoking Human Rights And Transnational Activism In Racial Justice Struggles At Home: Us Antiracist Activists And The Un Committee To Eliminate Racial Discrimination, Falcón
Societies Without Borders
In February 2008, over 120 members of US civil society representing a range of domestic non-governmental organizations attended a United Nations hearing regarding the US government's compliance with the International Convention to Eliminate All Forms of Racial Discrimination. In this article, I analyze a distinct form of transnational activism that requires US racial justice activists to identify human rights standards and principles upon which to build their assertions of racial injustice, necessitating a fluency in the language of human rights and the ability to negotiate and lobby with members of a UN committee.
Jihad, Race And Western Media, Post-September 11, Tagg
Jihad, Race And Western Media, Post-September 11, Tagg
Societies Without Borders
The article examines jihad within what is loosely referred to as “the Western imagination.” Through the analysis of both popular stereotypes and the broader historical context of religious antagonism and (neo)colonialism, the paper discusses both contemporary political rhetoric and a pair of liberal post September-11 political cartoons. While European and North American political leaders have often stereotyped Muslims in order to justify various “axis of evil” bandwagons and further political and economic interests throughout the Islamic Crescent, I argue here that the liberal media's critiques also often rely on fallacious embodied stereotypes. The pervasiveness of such representations has important implications …
Human Rights Across National Borders, Dores
Human Rights Across National Borders, Dores
Societies Without Borders
In Pakistan are visible thousands of children living alone in the streets, used by different kind of people for underground proposes. Then one finds them older entering Greece borders, bringing with them the underground exploitative activities as well as the solidarity support of local population living where migrant pass. Looking to the youngsters migrant flow from Afghanistan to Europe, is it possible to understand it when sociologist look at it as a problem of national stock and flow? Or does sociology need to adopt without borders methodologies?
What Will States Really Do For Us? The Human Rights Enterprise And Pressure From Below, Armaline, Davita Glasberg
What Will States Really Do For Us? The Human Rights Enterprise And Pressure From Below, Armaline, Davita Glasberg
Societies Without Borders
International human rights standards and treaties have been plagued with disputes over the relevance and power of international law with regard to state sovereignty. These disputes commonly result in states' failure to realize the rights and standards outlined by such human rights instruments. What if states cannot or will not provide fundamental dignities to their people? Moreover, how does global restructuring affect states' ability to implement human rights? We explore these questions through what we call the “human rights enterprise,” which includes conflicts between rulers and the ruled over the realization of human rights practice. As such, human rights are …
Book Review Of Contract And Domination & The Darker Nations: A People's History Of The Third World, Hiers
Book Review Of Contract And Domination & The Darker Nations: A People's History Of The Third World, Hiers
Societies Without Borders
The article reviews the books "Contract and Domination," by Carol Pateman and Charles Mills and "The Darker Nations: A People's History of the Third World," by Vijay Prashad.
Contestatory Performative Acts In Transnational Political Meetings, Lane
Contestatory Performative Acts In Transnational Political Meetings, Lane
Societies Without Borders
Young people are often more eager to use creative and artistic potential when acting politically. The article focuses on moments where contestatory performative acts take place in three different transnational political meetings. With these three examples it is shown how these moments of disruption and disorder - when something unexpected captures the core of the political gathering - are crucial elements for deep democracy. In such moments where the political speeches and the practices of the meeting do not match, young political actors are in a crucial role to initiate contestatory performative, and often carnivalesque, acts to execute the issue. …