Philosophy of Human Rights and International System

Objectives

To understand the importance of human rights in contemporary international system, developing among the students analytical and discursive competencies regarding the challenges and threats facing it.

To examine the contemporary international system and to understand the roles of its various actors and agents, through the analysis and commentary of documents, reports and specialised bibliography.

To develop research and individual work, reflecting on the acquisition of oral and written discursive competencies and in the critical evaluation of the current role of human rights in contemporary world.

Program

I – Theoretical and historical context of human rights. Main concepts, theoretical foundations and historical contexts. Debates and contemporary perspectives on human rights.

II – Human rights and international relations. The key principles of the International Law of Human Rights. The promotion and protection of human rights in the international law (universal and regional systems). The European case.

III – Human rights issues in the international system. Human rights, democracy and globalization. Universality and relativism. Human rights challenges and the future of the international system in the 21st Century

Teaching Methodologies

Combination of methodologies: lectures and interaction with the students. The lectures will be illustrated by means of analysing texts and documents to which students will have access. The interactive component considers seminars participation and the completion of a research project.

In line with the adopted methodologies, the following learning activities will be prioritised: creating a database on the themes studied; the investigation and subsequent organisation of information; a careful reading of selected texts; a productive discussion and debate while clarifying doubts and deepening questions; applying and demonstrating competencies in the area of oral and written discourse.

Selecting the criteria for each evaluation activity, as well as their respective dates, will take place with students at the beginning of the semester.

Bibliography

BARRY, B., Culture and Equality: An Egalitarian Critique of Multiculturalism, Cambridge, Polity Press, 2001.

BEITZ, Ch., The Idea of human Rights, Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, 2009.

BOBBIO, N., The Age of Rights, Cambridge, Blackwell, 1996.

CORRADETTI, C. (Ed.), Philosophical Dimensions of Human Rights. Some Contemporary Views, Heidelberg, London, NY, Springer, 2011.

CRUFT, R., LIAO, S.M. and RENZO, M., Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2015.

GEWIRTH, A., Human Rights: Essays on Justification and Applications, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1982.

GRIFFIN, J., On Human Rights, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2008.

HABERMAS, J., La Inclusión del Otro. Estudios de Teoría Política, Barcelona, Paidós, 2002.

HAYDEN, P. (Ed.), The Philosophy of Human Rights, St. Paul MN, Paragon House, 2001.

HOLDER, C. and REIDY, D. (Eds.), Human Rights: The Hard Questions, Cambridge, Cambridge Univ. Press, 2013.