1.3: Ethical Oversight in International Politics
As challenging as ethical oversight is in domestic politics, it is much more difficult to pull off in the international sphere. The reason is that there is no central and always powerful world government the way there is within a country. Nevertheless, international institutions have attempted to engage in ethical oversight since the end of World War II. Organizations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and others have all been established for the purpose of trying to guide ethical action.
Read this document which provides a brief look at the basic nature of human rights, as construed in the western world from the 1940s to today. Understanding this framework will make it much easier to analyze what journalists, activists, or diplomats mean when they discuss human rights.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is the cornerstone document for outlining human rights in the world today. It was adopted by the United Nations and has been influential in the decisions of many specific countries and institutions regarding human rights since its original drafting.
Read this short study guide to one of the definitive works about human rights from the 20th century. John Rawls was a political theorist who has been influential in many democracies since he wrote this work in the 1970s. Understanding some basic points of the work will enable the student to better understand democratic development.