Routledge Leading Rogue State: The U.S. and Human Rights

Most Americans would be surprised to learn that their government has declined to join most other nations in UN treaties addressing inadequate housing, poverty, children's rights, health care, racial discrimination, and migrant workers. Yet this book documents how the U.S. has, for decades, declined to ratify widely accepted treaties on these and many other basic human rights. Providing the first comprehensive topical survey, the contributors build a case and specific agendas for the nation to change course and join the world community as a protector of human rights. Review "An important book... the contributors recap the relevant international standards and show the systematic, not merely accidental, failure of the United States to comply with these norms. And they admirably insist not only that international human rights apply to the United States but that this country in particular must be held to the highest level of performance." -from the prologue by Jack Donnelly "Where once the United States saw itself, and the world saw it, as the savior of oppressed peoples, it is now seen as the leading rogue state. In fact, the grounds for American moral hubris were always shaky. How could the United States be a champion of human rights in the world when for two centuries, the fundamental rights embedded in the U.S. constitution, in U.S political culture, and in U.S laws had never been widely honored?" -from the foreword by Frances Fox Piven" About the Author Judith Blau, Professor of Sociology at UNC Chapel Hill, is the president of the U.S. chapter of Sociologists Without Borders and past president of the Southern Sociological Association. Earlier books include Architects and Firms, Sociology of Art, The Shape of Culture, Social Contracts and Economic Markets, and Race in the Schools. David L. Brunsma is an Associate Professor of Sociology/Black Studies at the University of Missouri. Alberto Moncada has a law degree and advanced degrees in sociology and education. He has taught at universities in Madrid and the U.S. Currently he is Vice President of UNESCO Spain and President of Sociologists without Borders International. He has published over thirty Spanish-language books on various topics including the media, Latino culture, and education. Catherine Zimmer is an Adjunct Professor of Sociology at UNC Chapel Hill.