2016-2017
Human Rights: Bridging Theory and Practice
Category: International Relations
Code: IS 196
Level: 4
Credits: 15
Teaching Pattern
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Seminar
3 x 2hrs
4 x 2hrs
4 x 2hrs
3 x 2hrs
Tutorial
1 x 20mins
*in addition to the above formal teaching sessions you will be expected to do approximately 126 hours of
independent study over the 4 weeks.
Outline
Human rights have become the most common vehicle to fight against injustice on a global scale, and
individuals and communities increasingly understand themselves as rights-holders. This course aims
to explore: the philosophical roots and historical emergence of human rights; the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights; conventions pertaining to different groups such as women’s, children’s
and minority rights; the relationship between human rights and social movements; and human rights
education.
Week 1
Session 1: Introduction: what are human rights?
Session 2: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) I: narratives and discourses
Session 3: The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) II: content and practice
Week 2
Session 1: Fundamental and philosophical characteristics of human rights
Session 2: The development of human rights law
Session 3: Regional Systems: Three main human rights systems
Week 3
Session 1: Globalisation and Human Rights
Session 2: The role of inter-governmental and non-governmental organisations
Session 3: Human rights Education
Week 4
Session 1: Human rights and gender, age, religion
Session 2: Migration and human rights
Session 3: Human rights and wrongs: minorities and discrimination
1
SUMMER Session 1
Learning Outcomes
By the end of the module students will be able to:
Know the basic concepts, issues and problems which pertain to the study of human rights
Apply human rights concepts to real life situations
Interpret human rights in relation to major sociological, anthropological and political concepts
and theories
Contacts
Carmen Himmelstine
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone :
Indicative Reading List
Glendon, Mary-Ann, A World Made New: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Random House, New York, 2001
Donnelly, Jack, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice 2nd Edition, Cornell University Press, Itaca
and London, 2003
Steiner, H., Alston, P. and Goodman, R., International Human Rights in Context: Law, Politics and Morals 3rd
Edition, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2007
A sample of books upholding critical approaches to human rights that will be included are:
Cowan, Jane, Dembour Marie-Benedicte and Wilson, Richard (eds) Culture and Rights: anthropological
perspectives, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2001
2
SUMMER Session 1
University Library
The Library,
University of Sussex,
Brighton
BN1 9QL
Phone: 01273 678163
[email protected]
3
SUMMER Session 1