Human Rights in Latin America: A Politics of Terror and Hope

July 30th, 2010

re-posted from the H-Net list on Human Rights:

Sonia Cardenas. Human Rights in Latin America: A Politics of Terror and Hope. Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009. 256 pp. $59.95 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8122-4197-6.

Reviewed by Cesar Seveso (Department of History and Global Studies Program, University of Houston)

Published on H-Human-Rights (July, 2010)

Commissioned by Rebecca K. Root

Human Rights in the Classroom

Sonia Cardenas, a specialist on human rights and the author of Conflict and Compliance: State Responses to International Human Rights Pressure (2007), has three central concerns in her new book: the origins of human rights violations, the pathways to political reform, and the challenge of accountability in Latin America. The book, intended for undergraduate courses on human rights, synthesizes much of the most recent research in two hundred pages. In this regard, it is the first book to offer a clear, well-organized, and synthetic account of the post-1970s evolution of human rights in Latin America for an undergraduate audience.

The book starts with a short but useful explanation of the different types of human rights violations. Cardenas emphasizes that she is particularly interested in abuses against civil and political rights. While the author notes the unique contributions of Latin America in the evolution of international human rights norms–at the philosophical, political, and institutional levels–she nonetheless focuses on the abuses that have made the region infamous. The author analyzes, perhaps too briefly, the legacies of colonialism and early state formation in today’s human rights violations, and then jumps to a more detailed analysis of trends and cross-national dynamics after 1980. This chapter also describes differences in abuses over time; examines cross-national differences; and–again, perhaps too briefly–provides a comparison of human rights violations in Latin America and the rest of the world. Interestingly, Latin America has registered the “greatest overall improvement in human rights conditions” in the developing world after 2000 (p. 27). The chapter ends with summaries of the most prominent human rights abuses in Chile, Argentina, Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Haiti–some of which are accompanied by short first-person accounts of human rights victims. This first chapter, like all the others in the book, contains a list of questions to stimulate class discussions; suggestions for additional readings, including memoirs and testimonials; a rich filmography; and a list of useful Web sites.

In her second chapter, Cardenas answers one of the most frequent questions anyone teaching human rights faces from shocked and puzzled undergraduate students: why do human beings torture and inflict pain on other human beings? Cardenas provides a very good summary of the most common explanations, which she terms “conventional wisdom,” from hatred to innate evil to cultural stereotypes. But Cardenas goes beyond this to address the topic from another perspective by including insights from social science. In this regard, she points to decision-making factors–rational actors decide whether or not to violate rights, based on cost-benefit calculations–and a wide array of ideological factors, spanning from anticommunism to racism, sexism, and patriarchy. Due to the significance of anticommunism and the national security doctrine in the ideological justification of human rights violations, it is not surprising that Cardenas devotes considerable space to the role played by the United States, with specific mention of Operation Condor and the School of the Americas. Finally, the author provides a framework for explaining state terror that takes into account the prevalence of exclusionary ideologies, domestic instability as the trigger for cost-benefit calculations, and the support for state terrorism facilitated by a weak democracy. The bibliography at the end of this chapter should perhaps also include Greg Grandin’s Empire’s Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism (2006).

Both chapters 3 and 4 offer an institutional analysis of the global system of human rights governance–a dense network of international and regional organizations, human rights treaties, commissions, courts, and transnational advocacy networks. There is much to say in this respect, since, as Cardenas notes, “Latin America has one of the most developed region-wide mechanisms for regulating human rights,” which includes the American Convention on Human Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (p. 83). Although both informative and needed in a book intended for undergraduate courses, the chapter on global governance is not as interesting as the one on transnational advocacy networks, which Cardenas calls “the key engines of human rights change” (p. 102). Indeed, the author shows how the hard work of international nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and local activists, such as the relatives of the detained-disappeared and religious groups, put pressure on governments abusing human rights. But, at the same time, she points to the new challenges raised by the vocal participation of human rights activists in transnational solidarity networks through three interesting examples: the use of the Internet by Mexico’s Zapatista Army of National Liberation, the fight of indigenous people against deforestation in the Amazon, and the struggle against femicide in Mexican maquilas. Cardenas’s goal is to highlight how globalization has created not only new opportunities for activists, but also “new demands and pressures that can produce new human rights violations” (p. 121).

Chapter 5 addresses how and why pressures from those networks translate, or fail to translate, into institutional reforms. Cardenas here analyzes several subregional cases–the southern cone, Central America, the Andean region, and the Caribbean–to show the interactions among human rights activism, political legitimacy, and internal conflict. Transnational networks can and do exert both symbolic and material pressure, the author concludes; and, even in the face of unrelenting violence and poverty, “ordinary people’s empathy for the way that other human beings are treated, their willingness to mobilize for the rights of others” makes it possible for human rights to change (p. 154).

Finally, Cardenas closes her book with a lively review of the most important moral and ethical dilemmas faced by post-dictatorial governments in Latin America. She first explains why accountability has been needed to construct solid democracies, yet has proven elusive and destabilizing at the same time. Once again, she brings to light the leading role played by these countries in pushing forward the struggle for human rights. Indeed, as the author notes, Latin America is the region of the world that has the largest concentration of truth commissions–a testament to past human rights abuses, but also of a resilient democratic culture. Cardenas explains the different mandates truth commissions have had over a twenty-year span. Her analysis of human rights trials clearly exposes the complexities that democratic governments face in their pursuit of retributive justice, as exemplified by the trials against the last Argentine military junta in 1985 and the arrest of Chilean General Augusto Pinochet in 1998 in London. In fact, as Cardenas notes, the Pinochet case is just one prominent example of a trend toward transnational justice that has also put U.S. courts at the heart of the fight for accountability in Latin America. The last chapter is undoubtedly the book’s most contemporary as it discusses the regional impact of the antidrug war and the global war on terror. On the one hand, U.S. military and police aid almost matches economic and social aid to the region. In fact, Colombia is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid outside the Middle East. On the other hand, the region has also seen the ascendancy of a new brand of left-of-center, charismatic national leaders, indisputably led by Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales, who have criticized the United States for imperial aspirations. Overall, Cardenas concludes, rising poverty, inequality, corruption, and a flexible definition of national security do much to entangle institutional reform and continue to keep alive the need for a continued human rights struggle.

The book has five well-chosen appendices, including the text of the American Convention of Human Rights, a list of the regional ratifiers of human rights treaties, human development indicators for Latin America, a list of sixteen internship opportunities to get students involved in human rights activism, and a list of twelve different suggested assignments for instructors. Once again, the appendices exemplify the author’s effort to turn her book into a useful classroom tool. This is a book that can satisfy even the most demanding instructors, and a paperback edition would make undergraduate students even happier. Cardenas’s analysis is always balanced, but at the same time she makes her points convincingly and forcefully. Scholars teaching human rights courses about Latin America and beyond will welcome this book.

If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the list discussion logs at:
http://h-net.msu.edu/cgi-bin/logbrowse.pl.

Citation: Cesar Seveso. Review of Cardenas, Sonia, Human Rights in Latin America: A Politics of Terror and Hope. H-Human-Rights, H-Net Reviews. July, 2010.

URL: http://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=29594

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Conscious Communities: the Ninth Annual Conference on Peace Education in Canada

July 30th, 2010

November 11 – 15, 2010 | McMaster University, Hamilton ON
—————————————————————
A core requirement of cultivating a culture of peace is growing sustainable, conscious communities that live, breathe, grow, learn, and thrive. With that in mind and heart, our focus this year will be celebrating and advancing “Conscious Communities” at the Ninth Annual Conference on Peace Education in Canada.

The conference will aim to advance the cultivation of peaceable communities at two scopes: local communities and communities of common interest.

The “local communities” scope will include the core educational needs that must be satisfied to allow all members of a physically local community to flourish. Topics explored may include but are not limited
to: “transition towns” movement, local and organic foods, ecological literacy, renewable energy, arts, living wages, conflict transformation, Peace Cafés, School Peace Program, social entrepreneurship, education in
local histories, storytelling, and participatory democracy.

The “communities of interest” scope will explore the unique challenges and needs of individuals that are not necessarily physically close to one another, but share common experiences. Topic areas explored may
include but are not limited to: social networking, online collaboration methods, solidarity work, the exchange of best practices between communities, social entrepreneurship, new media, marginalized communities, fair trade, literacy, access to education, and more.

Call for Proposals

Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace is seeking proposals for workshops and presentations during the “Conscious Communities” conference. Workshops will be 50 or 100 minutes in length, and are encouraged to
include participatory aspects to their design.

New this year: public mini-keynote presentations

Evenings of the conference will include a series of free, open-to-the-public 15-minute “mini-keynote” presentations at various locations in the city of Hamilton. Applicants are welcomed and encouraged to also propose a mini-keynote presentation either as a “sampler” of a proposed workshop, or of another topic of interest – keeping in mind that the audience demographics will be a more general public. Different forms of presentation will be considered for approval, including but not limited to a prepared talk, film short, multimedia, performance art, and storytelling.

For more information, registration, submission of proposals, and local (to Hamilton) nominations for mini-keynote presentations, see:
http://www.peace-education.ca/conferences/conscious-communities

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at
conference@peace-education.ca .


Robert Gerald Porter, B.A. (Hons.)
Coordinator, Canadian Centres for Teaching Peace, Hamilton Centre

phone:   (905) 523-0111
web:     www.peace-education.ca | www.peacecafe.ca
email:   rob@peacecafe.ca
twitter: @EducateForPeace  | @thePeaceCafe

Call for Nominations: Emilio F. Mignone International Human Rights Prize

July 29th, 2010

Dear HumanDHS friends,

please note the posting at the Peace and Collaborative Networking website, where a call for nominations for the EMILIO F. MIGNONE INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS PRIZE is published.

This prize is awarded by the Argentinian government to foreign institutions and/or individuals residing outside Argentina that are making or have made an outstanding contribution towards the promotion and/or protection of human rights in their own countries.

Kind regards,
Uli Spalthoff

IACM 2010 23rd Annual Conference Abstracting eJournal

July 29th, 2010

In cooperation with the International Association of Conflict Managment, the Negotiations Research Network (NEG) is pleased to announce the IACM 2010 23rd Annual Conference Abstracting eJournal. This abstracting eJournal is available to all subscribers at no charge and contains abstracts of the conference papers with links to the full text in the SSRN eLibrary.

The International Association for Conflict Management was founded to encourage scholars and practitioners to develop and disseminate theory, research, and experience that is useful for understanding and improving conflict management in family, organizational, societal, and international settings. This abstracting eJournal provides a data warehouse for all abstracts and papers presented at the conference. Abstracts of the papers will also be published in subject-specific journals within NEG and, where appropriate, in the journals of our sister networks.

View papers: http://www.ssrn.com/link/IACM-2010.html

Subscribe: http://hq.ssrn.com/jourInvite.cfm?link=IACM-2010

Conference URL: http://www.bus.umich.edu/Conferences/IACM-Conference-2010

HOW TO SUBSCRIBE

You can subscribe to the IACM 2010 23rd Annual Conference Abstracting eJournal by clicking on the “Subscribe” link listed above. Participants of this year’s conference will be subscribed to the abstracting eJournal. In addition, subscribers to the IACM 2009 22nd Annual Meetings Abstracting eJournal will automatically receive this year’s eJournal as well.

This link uses browser cookies to store the name of the eJournal while you log in. You will need to enable cookies on your browser to use the link above or to access the SSRN HeadQuarters. If cookies are not enabled, you will not be able to subscribe to SSRN eJournals or to log into the HeadQuarters.

SSRN’s eLIBRARY

SSRN’s searchable electronic library contains abstracts, full bibliographic data, and author contact information for more than 293,300 papers, over 139,600 authors, and full text for more than 243,700 papers. The eLibrary can be accessed at http://papers.ssrn.com

Authors may upload papers to the eLibrary without charge through the SSRN User HeadQuarters at http://hq.ssrn.com. All author-uploaded papers are available for worldwide free downloading.

Downloads from the SSRN eLibrary in the past 12 months total more than 8.6 million, with more than 37.9 million downloads since inception. Downloads are currently running at a rate of 10.3 million per year.

SSRN’s PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY

Searching on an individual’s name in the author field on our search page at http://ssrn.com/search provides the best single professional directory of scholars in accounting, economics, finance, law, and management. Complete contact information for authors, including email, postal, telephone, and fax information, is available there.

SSRN’s DOWNLOAD POLICY

SSRN provides worldwide free access to all papers uploaded to the eLibrary directly by an author.

SSRN’s MISSION

SSRN’s objective is to provide rapid, worldwide distribution of research to authors and their readers and to facilitate communication among them at the lowest possible cost. In pursuit of this objective, we allow authors to upload papers without charge. And, any paper an author uploads to SSRN is downloadable for free, worldwide.

Sincerely,

Max Bazerman

Director

Negotiations Research Network

Invitation to United Nations Summit on 20-22 September, 2010

July 29th, 2010

United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDG Summit) 20-22 September 2010, London.

On the behalf of the Organizing and Scientific Committees, the United Nations Working Group announces the UN summit(MDGs WE CAN END POVERTY 2015) to be held at the International Conference Centre London on 20-22 September 2010. We also would like to extend this special invitation to you and all your colleagues to participate in the UN Millennium Development Goals International Conference & Exposition.

This unprecedented and historic event is dedicated to the exchange of scientific data, governmental assessments, and public policies concerning community development, including poverty reduction and gender equality. Attendees of the MDGs International Conference would be delegates from around the world, representing academic institutions, corporate sectors, non-governmental organizations, community associations. Leaders of religious organizations. Private and Public participation are highly encouraged.

Participants who wish to learn of recent developments in United Nations MDGs will be exposed to invited plenary lectures and concurrent sessions followed by open workshop discussions with outstanding speakers and multi-disciplinary researchers and scientists. Open discussions are planned to consider the broad challenges of UN MDGs upon, community development, human health, and economic infrastructures at local, national, regional and global scales.

Along with conference lectures and workshops, the UN MDG Exposition at the International Conference Centre London will include over 175 booths at which representatives from the health, educational and agricultural sector will present their programs to address the challenges of MDGs. Other corporate bodies and environmental organizations will present projects and training opportunities to participants.

United Nations General Assembly has set up an Access Fund to support free all-round air flight fare for all participating delegate. Intending participants are to pay for their own hotel accommodation expenses at the Royal Garden Hotel London, this is the recommended hotel that will accommodate all participant for the UN MDGs summit. For accommodation reservation, Contact Royal Garden Hotel:
reservations /at/ royalgardenhotels.co.cc

For registration, visa and flight ticket details contact Ms. Isabelle Broyer, [Organizing Secretary] United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Summit. (Conference Organizing Secretary):
mdg /at/ un-summits.org

We call on individuals and organizations who may wish to submit papers for presentation at the summit Plenary sessions to do so on the following Themes:

1. MDGs Access to Freedom from Poverty and Hunger
2. Gender Equity and Women Empowerment Sustainability
3. Sustainable Development and Environmental Concerns
4. Education and Health for All: Challenges and Perspectives

Important Dates:
Registration/paper Abstract submission ….. 20th July – 20th August, 2010
Notification of acceptance of paper Abstract…… 27th August, 2010
Conference Dates …… 20th-22nd September, 2010

Register Now!

Dr. Derrick Armstrong,
[Conference Coordinator]
Communication and Public Affairs,
United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit Organizing Committee.

Consultant Wanted for Strategic Review of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development

July 29th, 2010

Strategic Review of the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development

TOR: Strategic Review Consultant

Application submission: August 7, 2010 for August-September 2010 review

The Journal of Peacebuilding and Development (JPD) has been in operation for eight years and is looking to conduct a strategic review of its operations with a view to charting potential ways forward to ensure the Journal’s self-sufficiency and sustainability. JPD’s Management Team, supported by its multi-year donor, the International Development Research Council (IDRC) of Canada, wish to identify a suitable candidate to undertake a 25 day Strategic Review, aiming to achieve the following:

* Review of the Journal’s vision, strategies and achievements to date, its continuing niche

* Identification of key strengths and weaknesses in achieving its mandate, its effectiveness

* Review and analysis of business strategies undertaken to date, and mapping of possible strategies with potential to ensure the Journal’s self-sufficiency and sustainability

* Identify priority short, medium and longer-term actions in line with suggested strategies, and resources and capacities required to undertake them

Duties

With support from the JPD management team, the Consultant will be responsible for carrying out the review and submitting the final report. Specifically, s/he will:

* Clarify the evaluation ToR with the JPD management; Develop a strategic review methodology, with evaluation questions and business plan framework,timetable and work plan; discuss with JPD management

* Review the Project:

o Conduct analysis of the key project documents and desk review of other relevant documents, including the Journal itself, progress and annual reports, budgets and financial reports and other relevant documents

o Identify key informants/resource persons, conduct face-to-face and phone interviews with Advisory Board members, staff, authors and subscribers/readers of JPD, visiting editors, publishers, librarians, donors and partners, other journal editing and marketing senior staff for comparative analysis purposes

o Examine managerial structure and editorial process; suggest options for increased effectiveness

o Assess results, achievements, challenges and opportunities. Develop and map potential business plan options that suggest routes for JPD’s sustainability – i.e. marketing and subscriptions, grants, partnership options, publishing arrangements – and what is needed to achieve these.

* Present preliminary evaluation results to JPD project team and selected Advisory Board members, and collect their feedback in order to finalize the report

* Submit final report (strategic review, business plan) to JPD management addressing above aims and tasks.

Required skills and competencies

* Experience in leading an organizational evaluation and business plan development

* Excellent communication skills to facilitate interviews

* Demonstrated ability to produce high quality evaluation reports in English, including in-depth analysis and strategic recommendations for future work of the funding organization/donor

Preferred:

* Understanding of journal publishing, marketing and subscriptions strategies

* Experience and understanding of international civil society and donor projects and funding, and in particular of working in the South and/or with Southern partners

* Understanding of peacebuilding and development scholarship and practice

Role of Translation in Nation Building, Nationalism and Supra-nationalism

July 29th, 2010

First Call for Papers

International Conference
“Role of Translation in Nation Building, Nationalism and Supra-nationalism”

New Delhi, December 16-19, 2010

Jointly organized by
Indian Translators Association and Linguaindia Foundation
Read the rest of this entry »

Common Ground News 20 – 26 July 2010

July 29th, 2010
The Common Ground News Service (CGNews) aims to promote constructive perspectives and dialogue on a broad range of issues affecting Arab-Israeli & Muslim-Western relations. CGNews is available in Arabic, English, French, Hebrew, Indonesian and Urdu. To subscribe, click here. For an archive of past CGNews articles, please visit  www.commongroundnews.org.
Muslim Brotherhood and liberals: partners for change in Egypt?
by Bilal Y. Saab
Bilal Y. Saab, Ph.D. student and Teaching Assistant at the Department of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, considers the potential for political reform in Egypt as a result of possible partnerships between the country’s political actors in the upcoming parliamentary and presidential elections.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 July 2010)
Putting an end to intolerance in Indonesia
by Luther Kembaren
Jurnal Nasional journalist Luther Kembaren examines a host of factors that have led to sectarian and religious violence in Indonesia, and calls for all elements of Indonesian society – including the government and media – to help empower religious minorities.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 July 2010)
A new generation of Muslim peace educators
by Amina Rasul and Qamar-ul Huda
Amina Rasul, co-founder of Muslim Women Peace Advocates and Qamar-ul Huda, Senior Programme Officer at the US Institute of Peace, shed light on how Islamic peace curriculums are being used in educational institutions around the world to counter budding extremism and intolerance.
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 July 2010)
Egypt through Western sunglasses
by Sanna Negus
Rather than writing about life as a foreigner in Egypt, YLE Finnish Broadcasting Company correspondent and author Sanna Negus explains why she chose instead to highlight the strong amazing Egyptians who inspired her in writing a new book, Hold on to Your Veil, Fatima!
(Source: Common Ground News Service (CGNews), 20 July 2010)
Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd: impoverished by his loss, enriched by his inspiration
by Reuven Firestone
Reuven Firestone, Professor of Medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College, mourns the loss of renowned academic Nasr Hamid Abu Zayd, and hopes that his death might inspire support for Muslim scholars everywhere.
(Source: Jewish Journal, 9 July 2010)

Post-war Reconstruction: Rebuilding States and Transforming Conflicts

July 29th, 2010

Another great information from the Peace and Collaborative Networking site. More details here.

Online Course: “Peace and Conflict Studies”

July 29th, 2010

Dear HumanDHS friends,

please read the message below by Victoria Fontan from the University of Peace. Victoria is a dear member of our Global Core Team (read about her on our website).

Kind regards,

Uli Spalthoff Read the rest of this entry »