Populism And Human Rights In A Turbulent Era

How can we interpret and respond to the rise of populist regimes that infringe on human rights? This incisive book analyses illiberal, repressive, and patriarchal logics of rule, identifying critical catalysts in the meteoric growth of populist agendas. Contributors scrutinise the records of authoritarian and nationalist leaders in Brazil, Hungary, India, Mexico, the Philippines, Poland, Turkey and the United States.

For decades, framing an issue as a ‘human rights’ issue carried certain power and effect in politics and international relations, one that has been challenged by the recent rise of populist political forces. Ford explores the recent impact of populist politics on the universalist human rights project, in particular, how scholars have framed and responded to this challenge. Ford offers a provocation to the human rights movement. Rather than ‘what have populists done to human rights?’, it asks ‘how did we, the human rights movement, do this to ourselves?’ How did fundamental protections for all become so easily scapegoated as ‘us and them,’ as claims of small, often foreign, minorities? Did human rights lose some vital connection to ordinary people’s interests, their value taken as obvious and self-explanatory? Looking forward, the book asks how – in a post-truth ‘fake news’ world – we might reimagine human rights as underpinning human flourishing as well as important constraints on public and private concentrations of power. Traversing relevant scholarly literature on the future of human rights and zooming out to look at wider patterns of political and diplomatic discourse, this book will speak to policymakers, diplomats, journalists, and human rights advocates – and all interested in the crisis of liberal democracies.

This incisive book examines how the values of social justice can be protected against attacks from the interacting economic, social, environmental, and health crises of the 21st century. Global contributors outline key elements of a political programme that resists the shift to the right caused by this turbulence through centring fairness, equality, respect and inclusion. Integrating policy, practical, and political perspectives, this book analyses the Covid-19 pandemic, the rise of racism and xenophobia, the growth of right-wing populism and nationalism, the 2008 economic crisis, and the impacts of climate change. Arguing that the current era is unique for the global nature of its turbulences, it illustrates how and why the gap between the advantaged and disadvantaged has grown more rapidly due to recent crises. Contributors focus on how these crises relate to and reinforce each other, providing roadmaps for political action across national borders. This book will be essential reading for academics in sociology, politics, public and social policy, sustainability, and human rights. Providing ideas and models to support the practical struggle for social justice, it will also be an invaluable guide for activists, politicians, and policymakers.

In recent years, human rights have come under fire, with the rise of political illiberalism and the coming to power of populist authoritarian leaders in many parts of the world who contest and dismiss the idea of human rights. More surprisingly, scholars and public intellectuals, from both the progressive and the conservative side of the political spectrum, have also been deeply critical, dismissing human rights as flawed, inadequate, hegemonic, or overreaching. While acknowledging some of the shortcomings, this book presents an experimentalist account of international human rights law and practice and argues that the human rights movement remains a powerful and appealing one with widespread traction in many parts of the globe. Using three case studies to illuminate the importance and vibrancy of the movement around the world, the book argues that its potency and legitimacy rest on three main pillars: First, it is based on a deeply-rooted and widely appealing moral discourse that integrates the three universal values of human dignity, human welfare, and human freedom. Second, these values and their elaboration in international legal instruments have gained widespread - even if thin - agreement among states worldwide. Third, human rights law and practice is highly dynamic, with human rights being activated, shaped, and given meaning and impact through the on-going mobilization of affected individuals and groups, and through their iterative engagement with multiple domestic and international institutions and processes. The book offers an account of how the human rights movement has helped to promote human rights and positive social change, and argues that the challenges of the current era provide good reasons to reform, innovate, and strengthen that movement, rather than to abandon it or to herald its demise.

In recent years, human rights have come under fire, with the rise of political illiberalism and the coming to power of populist authoritarian leaders in many parts of the world who contest and dismiss the idea of human rights. More surprisingly, scholars and public intellectuals, from both the progressive and the conservative side of the political spectrum, have also been deeply critical, dismissing human rights as flawed, inadequate, hegemonic, or overreaching. While acknowledging some of the shortcomings, this book presents an experimentalist account of international human rights law and practice and argues that the human rights movement remains a powerful and appealing one with widespread traction in many parts of the globe. Using three case studies to illuminate the importance and vibrancy of the movement around the world, the book argues that its potency and legitimacy rest on three main pillars: First, it is based on a deeply-rooted and widely appealing moral discourse that integrates the three universal values of human dignity, human welfare, and human freedom. Second, these values and their elaboration in international legal instruments have gained widespread - even if thin - agreement among states worldwide. Third, human rights law and practice is highly dynamic, with human rights being activated, shaped, and given meaning and impact through the on-going mobilization of affected individuals and groups, and through their iterative engagement with multiple domestic and international institutions and processes. The book offers an account of how the human rights movement has helped to promote human rights and positive social change, and argues that the challenges of the current era provide good reasons to reform, innovate, and strengthen that movement, rather than to abandon it or to herald its demise.

This book offers a comprehensive and multidisciplinary global overview of populism and human rights in the light of globalization. It examines why the dominant (neo)liberal paradigm of the last decades resulted in major economic and social inequalities which resulted in the surge of national populism, led by the election success of right-wing parties, movements, and leaders across the world. It discusses, among other topics, the success of Brexit in Britain and the election success of Donald Trump and Marine Le Pen and explains why there is a need for a dialogue on human rights and globalization in this era of populism. Further contributions analyze various important topics of the field, including cross-culturalism, globalization, human rights, challenges and threats, diversity, curbing global corruption, sustainable development, populism, the decline of free speech, the new nationalism, internationalization, global regime of human rights, leadership theory, global management competencies, gender, quality management, individualism-collectivism, and examples of new initiatives in global organizations. This makes the book a valuable and useful resource for students, researchers, and scholars of international relations, political science, sociology, political psychology, law, diplomatic studies, Communication and media studies, economics, education and management, as well as practitioners and policy-makers interested in a better understanding of globalization, populism, and human rights.

This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 License. It is free to read, download and share on Elgaronline.com. This thoughtful book provides a refreshing, comparative perspective on the future of care homes in our post-pandemic world. Building on more than a decade of collaborative international and interdisciplinary research in Canada, Germany, Norway, Sweden, the UK and the US, it employs a feminist political economy framework to address the key challenges facing care homes in this turbulent era.

This incisive book examines how the values of social justice can be protected against attacks from the interacting economic, social, environmental, and health crises of the 21st century. Global contributors outline key elements of a political programme that resists the shift to the right caused by this turbulence through centring fairness, equality, respect and inclusion.