The Evolution of International Human Rights: Visions Seen (Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights) - Softcover

"It is difficult to imagine a finer gift on the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights than this study of the Declaration's complex and far-reaching impact. Paul Gordon Lauren has skillfully combined a detailed history of the legal documents with the political, philosophical, and social context in which they developed."-American Historical Review "This volume is a model of scholarship. It shows how visionaries and diplomats, NGOs and governments, moved from the almost totally unquestioned pre-WWII doctrine of domestic sovereignty to the current reality of global awareness and of obligations to internal human rights practices."-Choice "The fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights produced many commemorative events, among the most significant of which is this beautifully written and meticulously researched history of the idea of human rights... Among the many pleasures of reading this book is discovering the richness of the human rights tradition... To read in this book how far we have come and how far we still have to go is an inspiration to the activist and a challenge to the idle."-The American Journal of International Law "The most comprehensive and exhaustively researched history of human rights ideas and the institutions to implement those ideas that has been written to date... An indispensable reference source for scholars and students of human rights."-Political Science Quarterly "Lauren's commanding scholarship and at many points his original research establish the seriousness and credibility of his treatment of the origins of modern human rights... An important resource for teaching human rights."-Human Rights Quarterly "A beautifully written and meticulously researched history of the idea of human rights."-American Journal of International Law "A great book that will remain compulsory reading."-Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights "This is a text which should be on the desk of every practitioner in the field of human rights."-New Zealand International Review

Selected by Choice magazine as an Outstanding Academic Book for 1999 Using the theme of visions seen by those who dreamed of what might be, Lauren explores the dramatic transformation of a world patterned by centuries of traditional structures of authority, gender abuse, racial prejudice, class divisions and slavery, colonial empires, and claims of national sovereignty into a global community that now boldly proclaims that the way governments treat their own people is a matter of international concern-and sets the goal of human rights "for all peoples and all nations." Lauren makes clear the truly universal nature of this movement by drawing into his discussion people and cultures in every quadrant of the globe. In this regard, the book offers particularly remarkable revelations and insights when analyzing the impact of wars and revolutions, non-Western nations, struggles against sexism and racism, liberation movements and decolonization, nongovernmental organizations, and the courage and determination of countless numbers of common men and women who have contributed to the evolution of international human rights.