Non-state Actors in the Human Rights Universe

* Examines broad range of non-state actors engaged in activities that violate, promote, or protect human rights
* Looks at human rights issues in bioethics, armed conflicts, labor, and welfare reform

Despite the widespread acceptance of human rights at the normative level, actual progress toward the realization of human rights globally has been far from satisfactory. Concerned with human rights outcomes, this book departs from analyses that focus on the role of the state in human rights promotion and urges the study of the entire human rights universe. Transcending as well the literature on the role of NGOs, the book examines a broad range of non-state actors engaged in various activities that violate, promote or protect human rights. Contributing authors examine several important issues, such as bioethics, armed conflicts, and welfare reform, while stressing the need for accountability and mechanisms for curbing human rights violations.

Other Contributors: Michael Goodhart, Herbert F. Spirer, Louise Spirer, Rainer Braun, Judy Gearhart, James L. Gunderson, J. Paul Martin, Richard Falk, Ruth Macklin, Alice Page, Anne Nelson, Thomas R. Lansner, Kevin Bales, Dana-Ain Davis, and Willy Fautre.

George Andreopoulos is Professor of Political Science and a member of the doctoral faculty of the Political Science and Criminal Justice programs at the CUNY Graduate School and University Center. He is also the Director of the recently established Center for International Human Rights. Before coming to CUNY, he taught for several years at Yale University, where he was the founding Associate Director of the Orville Schell Center for International Human Rights. Professor Andreopoulos has written extensively on international security, international human rights, and international humanitarian law issues.

Peter Juviler is Professor Emeritus and Special Lecturer of Political Science, Barnard College and Co-Director of the Center for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University. He received his ME from Yale University and the Russian Institute Certificate, MA and PhD in Public Law and Government from Columbia University.

Zehra Kabasakal Arat is Professor of Political Science and Women’s Studies at Purchase College of the State University of New York. Her research focuses on human rights, women’s rights, and democracy. Currently she is serving on the editorial boards of the International Feminist Journal of Politics and a book series on human rights by Georgetown University Press. Her current research agenda includes a book project that examines the changes in human rights policies and politics in Turkey since the establishment of the Republic in 1923.