Human Rights: At Home and Abroad

Calendar

SES #	TOPICS	KEY DATES
1	Course introduction Introduction to human rights as a ‘system’ or ‘regime’ and the U.S. BBC, The Why factor, “Why do we have human rights?”
2	What are human rights? History, philosophy and character of the rights discourse
3	Key conceptual debates: Universality v. cultural relativism, public v. private, relativity of rights, liberal origins, individual v. community rights, civil v. human rights
4	Sovereignty and self-determination?: The impact of North-South divisions, the West v. Rest
5	Human rights at home: The struggle to enforce human rights in the U.S.
6	Security v. human rights: Torture, assassinations and the War on Terror	Guest Speaker: Prof. David Luban, Georgetown University
7	Economic development, globalization and poverty
8	Gender, equality, and sexual minorities
9	Ethnic, religious and racial violence and group rights	Final paper topic due two days after Session 9
10	Forcible Intervention versus sovereignty
11	Open class for discussion and / or a topic to be chosen by students Conclusion and wrapping up	Final paper due a 1.5 weeks after last session