Globalization and Human Rights, Social Justice and Political Challenges

Globalization (or globalisation) describes a process by which regional economies, societies, and cultures have become integrated through a globe-spanning network of communication and trade. The term is sometimes used to refer specifically to economic the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment, capital flows, migration, and the spread of technology. Human rights are thus conceived in a universalist and egalitarian fashion. Such entitlements can exist as shared norms of actual human moralities, as justified moral norms or natural rights supported by strong reasons, or as legal rights either at a national level or within international law. However, there is no consensus as to precise nature of what in particular should or should not be regarded as a human right in any of the preceding senses, and the abstract concept of human rights has been a subject of intense philosophical debate and criticism. The ideology of human rights is one of the most powerful forces today largely at the level of rhetoric, but also as justification for action, particularly the collective interventions by the international community in oppressive states. The ideology of rights and the acceptance that the international community has the overriding responsibility for their protection has been invoked to justify limits on state sovereignty, a cornerstone of the international system. This book, which we hope will lay the foundations for the next generation of this subject.