Freedom from poverty : NGOs and human rights praxis / Daniel P.L. Chong.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Chong, Daniel P. L.

Series:

Pennsylvania studies in human rights.

Pennsylvania studies in human rights

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human rights.

Non-governmental organizations.

Poverty.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (231 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

NGOs and human rights praxis

Place of Publication:

Philadelphia : University of Pennsylvania Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Human rights advocacy in the West is changing. Before the turn of the century, access to goods such as food, housing, and health care-while essential to human survival-were deemed outside of the human rights sphere. Traditional human rights institutions focused on rights in the political arena that could be defended through legal systems. In Freedom from Poverty, Daniel P. L. Chong examines how today's nongovernmental organizations are modifying human rights practices and reshaping the political landscape by taking up the cause of subsistence rights. This book outlines how three types of NGOs-human rights, social justice, and humanitarian organizations-are breaking down barriers by incorporating access to economic and social goods into national laws and advancing subsistence rights through nonjuridical means. These NGOs are using rights not only as legal instruments but as moral and rhetorical implements to build social movements, shape political culture, and guide development work. Rights language is now invoked in churches, political campaigns, rock concerts, and organizational mission statements. Chong presents a social theory of human rights to provide a framework for understanding these changes and defending the legitimacy of these rights. Freedom from Poverty analyzes new trends in the evolution of human rights by combining constructivist and post-positivist legal approaches. This book provides valuable concepts to human rights practitioners, political scientists, antipoverty advocates, and leaders who are serious about ending widespread privation and disease.

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface

1. NGOs and Freedom from Poverty

2. A Social Theory of Human Rights

3. Human Rights Organizations

4. Social Justice Organizations

5. Humanitarian Organizations

6. Using a Social Theory to Interpret NGO Efforts

Appendix. NGOs Working for Freedom from Poverty

Notes

Bibliography

Index

Acknowledgments

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [197]-212) and index.

ISBN:

9781283890052

1283890054

9780812201604

0812201604

OCLC:

793341712