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Jack Donnelly
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Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice Third Edition

by Jack Donnelly (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 130 ratings
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International Human Rights
International Human Rights
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In the third edition of his classic work, revised extensively and updated to include recent developments on the international scene, Jack Donnelly explains and defends a richly interdisciplinary account of human rights as universal rights. He shows that any conception of human rights—and the idea of human rights itself—is historically specific and contingent.

Since publication of the first edition in 1989, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice has justified Donnelly’s claim that "conceptual clarity, the fruit of sound theory, can facilitate action. At the very least it can help to unmask the arguments of dictators and their allies."

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  1. ISBN-10
    0801477700
  2. ISBN-13
    978-0801477706
  3. Edition
    Third
  4. Publisher
    Cornell University Press
  5. Publication date
    April 15, 2013
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    6 x 0.88 x 9 inches
  8. Print length
    336 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

Every once in a while a book appears that treats the leading issues of a subject in such a clear and challenging manner that it becomes central to understanding that subject. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice is just such a book. Donnelly's interpretations are clear and argued with zest.

-- "American Political Science Review"

This wide-ranging book looks at all aspects of human rights, drawing on political theory, sociology, and international relations as well as international law.

-- "Foreign Affairs"

What Donnelly does better than anyone else is to lay before the reader a coherent conceptual framework for an understanding of international human rights as an operative part of international life. The book remains at the top of any bibliography of indispensable books dealing with human rights.

-- "Human Rights & Human Welfare"

Review

Every once in a while a book appears that treats the leading issues of a subject in such a clear and challenging manner that it becomes central to understanding that subject. Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice is just such a book. Donnelly's interpretations are clear and argued with zest.

― American Political Science Review

This wide-ranging book looks at all aspects of human rights, drawing on political theory, sociology, and international relations as well as international law.

― Foreign Affairs

What Donnelly does better than anyone else is to lay before the reader a coherent conceptual framework for an understanding of international human rights as an operative part of international life. The book remains at the top of any bibliography of indispensable books dealing with human rights.

― Human Rights & Human Welfare

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cornell University Press; Third edition (April 15, 2013)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0801477700
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0801477706
  • Reading age ‏ : ‎ 18 years and up
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.88 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 130 ratings

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Jack Donnelly

Jack Donnelly

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
130 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Shopper1013
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended by several professors
Reviewed in the United States on January 4, 2022
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Several of my human rights courses used this as a textbook. I sold my copy when I completed my coursework, only to purchase it again six month later for a reference guide. Well-organized text!
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Trieu M Nguyen
5.0 out of 5 stars It looks great!
Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2021
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I greatly like it. The book arrives on time and in very good shape. Thank you.
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ewaffle
4.0 out of 5 stars A clear and definitive view of human rights
Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2014
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The four stars in this review are more for the organization and clarity of Donnelly's ideas and to a lesser extent for the ideas themselves. It works well as an introduction to the validity of human rights, the vocabulary of practitioners and some of the founding documents, particularly, in this case, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted by the United Nations in 1948. The Holocaust, plus the forced relocation of millions and the destruction of the most basic necessities to maintain life during World War II was the impetus for the Declaration (grammatically the upper case D is correct but if Donnelly were reading it aloud you could hear it) and the subsequent treaties that amended and extended it.

An important aspect of the UDHR is that all the rights it enumerates and defines are individual and not group rights. The rights of ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities are dealt with as the rights of individuals belonging to the group, not the group itself as a collective entity, since human rights are literally the rights that one has simply because on is a human being. Human rights are equal rights; all people have the same human rights as everyone else. They are inalienable; one cannot stop being human no matter how badly one behaves or how monstrously one is treated. And they are universal in that we consider all members of the species Homo Sapiens as human beings and thus, automatically, holders of human rights.

Human rights can be violated, ignored or abrogated and often are with impunity for the violators. Attempting to claim a right--the right of free assembly and association, for example, can lead, in many countries to extra-judicial execution--one can simply disappear or, now that it has become a transitive verb, can be disappeared--El Salvador, Chile under Pinochet, Iraq, the Philippines, the USSR, many others. Regimes that feature summary executions of suspected enemies of the state will almost always fail in most other categories of maintaining or expanding human rights. However, no matter how the concept of individual rights is trampled under the jackboots of fascism those rights still exist and individuals in these unfortunate countries are still fully entitled to them. The right to the presumption of innocence in a free and fair hearing before an independent and impartial judiciary doesn't evaporate in, for example, the People's Republic of China even though those rights may seem to be in permanent abeyance.

An important distinction for Donnelly is that human rights are not moral rights--human rights have played what he calls a "vanishingly small part of Western moral theory." He follows John Rawls in identifying them as political rights and is much more specific regarding them than Jurgen Habermas whose political philosophy often complements Rawls but who is in conflict with him as well.

Donnelly knows his stuff. He is cited everywhere by everyone, has been consulted by the United Nations and governments throughout the world. “Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice" is a valuable and timely book.
12 people found this helpful
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ldreich
3.0 out of 5 stars beware - tiny, tiny font
Reviewed in the United States on June 5, 2020
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Do yourself and get the kindle version so it's actually readable.

This was a text for school. It was boring. It does give a very thorough overview of the evolution and current state of human rights. Had I not hated the class so much, I might have actually enjoyed this book.
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Y.E.
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 22, 2018
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Comprehensible for young members of our family (14- 17). Important work.
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Stasha Sistrunk
5.0 out of 5 stars Easy and simple
Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2018
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Great condition and was easy to buy for my school
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Used it as a textbook, but it was written ...
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2015
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Used it as a textbook, but it was written in a way that tackles many of the basic questions that students may have about human rights as well as discussing the substantive schema within which human rights regimes operate.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Roberto
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Reviewed in Canada on December 27, 2021
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Great book
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Frederick St John Smythe
5.0 out of 5 stars Recommended
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 29, 2014
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This is an excellent core textbook for undergraduate or postgraduate students of human rights. Donnelly writes clearly and lucidly and explains the key concepts very well.
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Saide Jamal
5.0 out of 5 stars Indispensable reference in Human Rights studies
Reviewed in Spain on February 6, 2014
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Human rights is historically specific and contingent.
Donnelly explains a huge range of human righs issues by addressing interdisciplinary analysis.
I really recommend it
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Natalee
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Reviewed in Canada on February 11, 2020
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Great read!!
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Sara Oconnell
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 25, 2017
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great item as described
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