COURSE
DESCRIPTION: |
This course seeks to explore the origins, nature and limitations of
the human rights paradigm in politics and law. We will consider the
historical development of the human rights paradigm, philosophical (and
theological) discussions about its meaning and validity, and engage in
concrete examination of the ways in which it shapes legal and political
practice particularly in Canada and internationally.
Prerequisites: ECON 203, GEOG 210, or SSCI 210 |
REQUIRED TEXTS: |
- Lynn Hunt: Inventing Human Rights: A History. New York: Norton, 2007
- Michael J. Perry: Toward a Theory of Human Rights: Religion, Law and the Courts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.
- A reader.
- Available on the Internet:
- Charles Taylor: “Conditions of an Unforced Consensus on Human Rights” http://usm.maine.edu/~bcj/issues/three/taylor.html
- Lief Wenar: “Rights” http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rights/
- Heinz vs. Christian Horizons: http://www.canlii.org/en/on/onhrt/doc/2008/2008hrto22/2008hrto22.html
- Iain
T. Benson: Christian Horizons, Secularist Sunsets and the Nature of the
"Public"
http://culturalrenewal.29.ncol.ca/qry/page.taf?id=37&_function=detail&sbtblct_uid1=199
- Susan Waltz, “Prosecuting Dictators: International Law and the Pinochet Case” http://www.jstor.org/stable/40209737
- Henry Kissinger, “The Pitfalls of Universal Jurisdiction” http://www.jstor.org/stable/20050228
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COURSE OUTLINE: |
- Week 1 (Jan 4, 6): Syllabus, Shortest field trip ever.
- Week 2 (Jan 9, 11, 13): History of Human Rights: Hunt
- Week 3 (Jan 16, 18, 20): (Wed, 18th – IDS) History: Tierney and Witte
- Week 4 (Jan 23, 25, 27): Justifying Human Rights: Perry chs 1 and 2
- Week 5: (Jan 30, Feb 1, 3): Human Rights: A non-religious ground? Perry ch. 3
- Week 6: (Feb 6, 8, 10): Marshall & Boyle, Taylor
- Week 7 (Feb 13, 15, 17): Rights, Morality, Law: Perry ch. 4 and (one of 5, 6, 7)
- Week 8 (Feb 20, 22, 24): READING WEEK
- Week 9 (Feb 27, March 1, 3): Rights, democracy and the courts: Perry 8, 9
- Week 10 (Mar 6, 8, 10): Canada: Charter, (Keegstra, Oakes, Big M)
- Week 11 (Mar 13, 15, 17): Canada: Human Rights Commissions (Heinz, Levant, etc)
- Week 12 (Mar 20, 22, 24): Drafting a Human Rights Convention
- Week 13 (Mar 27, 29, 31): International Human Rights Law (Case)
- Week 14 (April 3, 5, 7): Pinochet, Immunity, Universal Jurisdiction
- Week 15 (April 10, 12): Presentations
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