Political Science 3388E Study Guide - Final Guide: Double Standard, International Humanitarian Law, Minority Rights

• School: Western University
• Department: Political Science
• Course: Political Science 3388E
• Professor: Jennifer Mustapha

Document Summary

The decades since the universal declaration of human rights (udhr) was approved by the united nations general assembly in 1948 have witnessed what one writer aptly calls the rise and rise of human rights". Three related features of human rights deserve special emphasis in this respect: human rights are distinctively modern, human rights are a political invention, human rights are inherently revolutionary. Human rights are closely tied historically to notions of justice and human dignity that are as od as human society. To stress the modernity of human rights is rather to stress two important contrasts: one with the corporate conception of rights that dominated medieval. Medieval europe: rights one possessed depended upon and varied with one"s status or social position: other with notion of justice and dignity based in religion cosmology. Humanism: a concern with the achievements and potential of human beings. Rationalism: an emphasis on reasons and science rather than on belief or superstition.