INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS by Jack Donnelly. Second edition. Boulder: Westview Press, 1998. 216 pages. Paper $14.95. ISBN 0-8133-9969-6.

Reviewed by Conway W. Henderson, Department of Political Science, University of South Carolina-Spartanburg. E-Mail: chenderson@gw.uscs.edu.
 

Jack Donnelly’s second edition of INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS continues to be a useful addition to the "Dilemmas in World Politics" series by Westview Press. Professor Donnelly retains the same length for the second edition as with the first. However, by condensing the original chapters, he is able to offer two new chapters. One is on China’s handling of human rights since Tiananmen Square, and the other deals with the breakup of Yugoslavia. One significant loss, with the move to the second edition, is the removal of the pictures and political cartoons that would have enhanced the reading interests of undergraduates.

Donnelly has established himself as one of the foremost authorities in the human rights field and has packed much expertise into a compact and pleasantly written volume. This book is very suitable as a supplementary text for undergraduates or as a primer for more advanced readers new to the field of human rights. Skilled writing is marred only by the reoccurring use of "But" to begin numerous sentences. The expertise and writing of this introductory book are backed up by impressive pedagogical aids. An appendix containing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a glossary, and an index are useful study resources. Discussion questions, footnotes, and suggested readings, offered on a chapter by chapter basis, are helpful as well.

Donnelly is at his best when he exercises his intellect on the theoretical issues covered in Chapters Two and Eight. His discussion of human rights in the context of a society of states is fascinating, although he could be clearer as to what a society of states is. Equally interesting is his discussion of the way human rights seem to conflict with realist views of power and national interest. Perhaps the most insightful part of Donnelly’s book involves his handling of cultural relativism and its conflict with the concept of universal human rights, surely the most controversial subject in the human rights field for at least a decade. Donnelly may have found a solution for this dilemma by allowing for a weak form of cultural relativism.

Just as powerfully, Donnelly makes clear how an absolute view of sovereignty can stand in the way of universal human rights. Yet, he recognizes that our sense of moral interdependence, which might help override sovereignty, is not as easily understood as the material interdependence of trade relations. We also can learn from Donnelly that human rights and democracy do not readily operate together, as many would suppose. Only when democracy takes on a liberal version does it necessarily comport with human rights. And just as human rights can help civilize democracy, a welfare state may be necessary to civilize a market economy for the sake of enjoying socioeconomic rights. These points of Donnelly are critical for those of us wishing to see Western democracy and capitalism spread around the world.

If INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS has a serious failing, it might be the organization of Chapters Three through Seven. In the human rights field, authors can organize their material by issue, geographic region, or in some chronological order. Donnelly seems to attempt all three resulting in a mishmash of subjects. Fortunately, each chapter can stand independently, a desirable situation since together the chapters do not offer a coherent, logical flow built around a clear thesis. There is at best a rough historical order to the middle chapters. Particularly puzzling is the decision to return to cultural relativism at the end of Chapter Six after leaving this subject behind in Chapter Two.

Donnelly’s choices for the subject matter of the middle chapters are not inappropriate, but two important topics are neglected. Perhaps instead of so much regional attention, Donnelly could have described the research efforts in the human rights field, for example, the effort of scholars to measure and quantify human rights and then to process this quantified data with computerized statistical packages. Such an effort allows scholars to test theory using a large number of cases. More importantly, Donnelly gave short shrift to the non-government organizational movement and its effort to promote human rights as a dimension of global governance. A small chapter section on NGOs and the occasional further mention does not seem to be enough coverage for this monumental development. Human rights NGOs might have to take a back seat to environmental NGOs in the emergence of a global civil society, but not by much.

In spite of some problems, Donnelly’s INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS is an excellent overview of the origins, development, and present status of the worldwide human rights movement. Donnelly’s expertise overrides what this reviewer sees as a questionable organizational scheme.