Topic: Human Rights Collections in UConn Archives & Special Collections

For the first time in one collected volume, mainstream and critical human rights scholars together examine the empirical and normative debates around the future of human rights. They ask what makes human rights effective, what strategies will enhance the chances of compliance, what blocks progress, and whether the hope for human rights is entirely misplaced in a rapidly transforming world. Human Rights Futures sees the world as at a crucial juncture. The project for globalizing rights will either continue to be embedded or will fall backward into a maelstrom of nationalist backlash, religious resurgence and faltering Western power. Each chapter talks directly to the others in an interactive dialogue, providing a theoretical and methodological framework for a clear research agenda for the next decade. Scholars, graduate students and practitioners of political science, history, sociology, law and development will find much to both challenge and provoke them in this innovative book.

Gender Inequality: Issues, Challenges and New Perspectives brings together advancements and empirical studies on gender studies from different parts of the world. Focusing on issues, challenges, and new perspectives on gender (in)equalities in multiple spheres and multiple countries, the book is an interdisciplinary and international compilation of studies on gender that also offers insight into future directions for the field. The book will appeal to those interested in empirical and practical advancements in gender studies, particularly students, teachers, and researchers across disciplines, as well as professionals, employers, and practitioners who are working towards addressing gender inequalities across the world.

The quest for fulfillment of the human spirit has existed since the beginning of humanity, yet there are people who stand out in history for their incredible personal sacrifice and mission to improve the quality of life for others. This book profiles such leaders like Eleanor Roosevelt, Mohandas Gandhi, Nelson Mandela, Harry Wu, Iqbal Masih, Tenzin Gyatso, and others who have tirelessly pioneered the cause of human rights.

This sophisticated book argues that human rights literature both helps the persecuted to cope with their trauma and serves as the foundation for a cosmopolitan ethos of universal civility--a culture without borders. Michael Galchinsky maintains that, no matter how many treaties there are, a rights-respecting world will not truly exist until people everywhere can imagine it. The Modes of Human Rights Literature describes four major forms of human rights literature: protest, testimony, lament, and laughter to reveal how such works give common symbolic forms to widely held sociopolitical emotions.

Juan Méndez has experienced human rights abuse first hand. As a result of his work with political prisoners in the late 1970s, the Argentinean military dictatorship arrested, tortured, and held him for more than a year. During that time, Amnesty International adopted him as a "Prisoner of Conscience." After his release, he moved to the United States and continued his lifelong fight for the rights of others, and the lessons he has gleaned over the decades can help us with our current struggles. Here, he sets forth an authoritative and incisive examination of torture, detention, exile, armed conflict, and genocide, whose urgency is even greater in the wake of America's recent disastrous policies. Méndez offers a new strategy for holding governments accountable for their actions, providing an essential blueprint for different human rights groups to be able to work together to effect change.

Advocates within the human rights movement have had remarkable success establishing new international laws, securing concrete changes in human rights policies and practices, and transforming the terms of public debate. Yet too often, the strategies these advocates have employed are not broadly shared or known. Campaigning for Justice addresses this gap to explain the "how" of the human rights movement. Written from a practitioner's perspective, this book explores the strategies behind some of the most innovative human rights campaigns of recent years. Drawing on interviews with dozens of experienced human rights advocates, the book delves into local, regional, and international efforts to discover how advocates were able to address seemingly intractable abuses and secure concrete advances in human rights. These accounts provide a window into the way that human rights advocates conduct their work, their real-life struggles and challenges, the rich diversity of tools and strategies they employ, and ultimately, their courage and persistence in advancing human rights.