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Course

The Politics of Human Rights: Theory and Critique - LAWS3017

Faculty: Faculty of Law

School: Faculty of Law

Course Outline: See below

Campus: Kensington Campus

Career: Undergraduate

Units of Credit: 6

EFTSL: 0.12500 (more info)

Indicative Contact Hours per Week: 3

Enrolment Requirements:

Pre-requisite: Any of Legal Theory (LAWS2320/JURD7223/LAWS3331/JURD7431), Law & Social Theory (LAWS2820/JURD7222/LAWS3332/JURD7632), or Theories of Law & Justice (LAWS2326/JURD7236/LAWS3326/JURD7336).

Equivalent: JURD7417

CSS Contribution Charge: 3 (more info)

Tuition Fee: See Tuition Fee Schedule

Further Information: See Class Timetable

View course information for previous years.

Description

Universal human rights have become one of the most powerful legal and political instruments of our time but many of their founding presuppositions still remain unquestioned. This course is all about posing questions of human rights. In the process we will come to a better understanding of the limits and the possibilities of human rights for global politics and social justice. In this course we will thus: explore the ‘politics of human rights’ by examining the historical origins and philosophical bases of human rights; discuss several key critical analyses of human rights; and, finally, look at some case studies of human rights in operation (incl. international development, terrorism and security, humanitarian intervention).

Recommended Prior Knowledge

None

Course Objectives

A candidate who has successfully completed this course should be able to:
  • Understand the basic history, philosophy and justification of human rights;
  • Understand and be able to critically engage with selected critical approaches towards human rights;
  • Demonstrate the ability to apply theoretical knowledge of human rights to particular contemporary political situations (eg/ development, counter-terrorism); and
  • Critically assess the legacy, operation and possibilities of human rights discourse for global politics and social justice.

Main Topics

  • Introduction: Human Rights Today
  • A Brief History of HR: Natural Rights, Revolutionary Declarations, Post-WWII Global Instruments
  • Normative Philosophical Justifications for HR
  • Classical Critiques: Bentham, Marx and Burke
  • The Refugee and the Nation-State: Arendt and Agamben
  • Human Rights and Biopolitics: Foucault and Agamben
  • Feminist Critiques of HR
  • Critical Race and Postcolonial Critiques of HR
  • Theorizing Contemporary Political Deployments of HR
  • Futures of Human Rights?

Teachers

Dr Ben Golder, Faculty of Law, University of New South Wales, Ph Ext: 51843, b.golder@unsw.edu.au

Assessment

The course will be assessed on the following basis:

3 x short reflective notes incorporating responses to particular weeks’ readings (10%)
Class Participation (20%)
Long Research Essay of 5-6,000 words (70%).

Course Texts

Required

A volume, or 2 volumes, of reading materials created by the course authority and available for purchase at the UNSW Bookshop and lending at the UNSW Library.

Recommended
  • Costas Douzinas, The End of Human Rights: Critical Legal Thought at the End of the Century (Oxford: Hart, 2000); and
  • Pheng Cheah, Inhuman Conditions: On Cosmopolitanism and Human Rights (Cambridge, MA.: Harvard UP, 2006).

Resources

Refer to the course outline which will be provided by the lecturer at the beginning of the relevant semester.
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Study Levels

Undergraduate Study Postgraudate Study Postgraduate Research Study Non-Award Study

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