Vol. 7 No. 3 (March 1997) pp. 177-178.
 
INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS IN CONTEXT: LAW, POLITICS, MORALS by Henry J. Steiner and Philip Alston (eds.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. 1245 pp. Cloth $98.00. Paper $48.00.
 
Reviewed by Donald W. Jackson, Department of Political Science, Texas Christian University.
 
This is a massive course book of cases and materials intended to support an introductory course on human rights. Unlike most casebooks intended primarily for use in law schools, this book has far more documents and commentaries than cases. The cases that are included are chiefly those from the European Court of Human Rights, but the illustrative cases in that section fill fewer than fifty pages of the book. Most materials consist of primary sources materials (treaties, resolutions, statutes, reports and decisions of official agencies) and secondary sources (commentaries) from a range of disciplines. The focus is on the international human rights system, but since understanding that system requires some foundation knowledge of international law, the early portion of the book introduces basic concepts, norms and processes of public international law.

It is not possible to review in any depth even a few of the specific topics covered by this book. Individually, several of the topics would require a review as long as that allotted here for the book as a whole. Indeed, the cases and materials format means that there is precious little political or moral context provided for the topics that are covered by the book. Most professors are all too familiar with the discontinuites proferred by such course books. Overall, here is the plan of the book:

Part A of the book provides some journalistic "snapshots" of contemporary global human rights issues. These human rights stories serve to set the focus for the balance of the book, by providing a human face for human rights issues. Part B examines the historical evolution of the "normative framework" of international human rights. Most interesting is the coverage of issues involving universalism versus cultural relativism, including human rights in the contemporary Muslim world and in China. The topicality and importance of such examples is witnessed by the recent publication of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, Islam and Justice: Debating the Future of Human Rights in the Middle East and North Africa (January 1997). Part B alone could sustain a semester of intensive study. Also important is Part B's coverage of positive economic and social rights (as contrasted with what are traditionally known as "negative rights"). Part C covers human rights institutions and processes. The coverage includes the UN system, the role of NGOs, the Human Rights Committee created by the Internatonal Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and regional arrangements (the European, Inter-American and African systems). Part D considers national states as "protectors and enforcers" of human rights, either through customary norms of international law or through treaty obligations. Part E contains a relative long illustrative review of women's rights, and (finally) Part F considers the "current topics" of national self-determination, international crimes and international criminal tribunals (including the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia), and economic and social development as human rights (including issues involved with the market economy and globalization).

The multi-faceted coverage of the book (ponderous overall, but sometimes too brief in its coverage of a specific topic) poses the difficulty of this book for classroom use. It seems likely that chiefly law students (who are accustomed to such course books and who may work under the duress of a law professor's expectations for adequate preparation for class) or occasional highly motivated graduate students will be able to manage the length and discontinuities of this book. Only the most able undergraduate students will be able to cope with this course book, and even so, the professor who uses this book for an undergraduate course on human rights must be thoroughly prepared to provide the background and context to make this book manageable, even for the most industrious undergraduates. The course book format employed here begs for a readable (and relatively brief) companion text that will provide an overview of major concepts and issues). Absent that, the professor who uses this book must provide the overview. Nonetheless, for professors and students who are willing to persevere, the essential ingredients for a course on international human rights enforcement are indeed contained in this long book.


Copyright 1997 by the author