Books in the Human Rights in History series

The right of self-determination of peoples holds out the promise of sovereign statehood for all peoples and a domination-free international order. But it also harbors the danger of state fragmentation that can threaten international stability if claims of self-determination lead to secessions. Covering both the late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century independence movements in the Americas and the twentieth-century decolonization worldwide, this book examines the conceptual and political history of the right of self-determination of peoples. It addresses the political contexts in which the right and concept were formulated and the practices developed to restrain its potentially anarchic character, its inception in anti-colonialism, nationalism, and the labor movement, its instrumentalization at the end of the First World War in a formidable duel that Wilson lost to Lenin, its abuse by Hitler, the path after the Second World War to its recognition as a human right in 1966, and its continuing impact after decolonization.

This is the first global history of human rights politics in the age of decolonization. Leading scholars demonstrate how human rights were embraced and deployed by a diverse collection of actors, including both nationalists and imperialists, activists and diplomats, in contesting self-determination and national independence.

A study of the emergence and development of humanitarian intervention from the nineteenth century through to the present day. Drawing from a multitude of disciplines, it investigates the complex and controversial debates over the legitimacy of protecting humanitarian norms and universal human rights by violent as well as non-violent means.

This volume provides a new understanding of an issue at the heart of contemporary conflicts: distinguishing between civilians and combatants. A multi-disciplinary study of over a dozen case studies from across the world and over the last century, it upends current orthodoxies by showing the civil-military divide to be extremely dynamic.

This book investigates how humanitarian photography - the mobilization of photography in the service of humanitarian initiatives across state boundaries - emerged and how it operated in diverse political and social contexts, bringing together more than a dozen scholars working on the history of humanitarianism, international and nongovernmental organizations, and visual culture.

The Care of the Witness probes the ambiguities of witnessing to genocide, disaster, and war in the 'era of the witness'. This book will appeal to readers interested in collective memory, oral history, and human rights and humanitarian work, as well as in visual culture, political theory and ethics more broadly.

This book investigates how humanitarian photography - the mobilization of photography in the service of humanitarian initiatives across state boundaries - emerged and how it operated in diverse political and social contexts, bringing together more than a dozen scholars working on the history of humanitarianism, international and nongovernmental organizations, and visual culture.

By focusing on specific instances of assertions or violations of human rights during the past century, this volume analyzes the place of human rights in the various arenas of global politics, providing an alternative framework for understanding the political and legal dilemmas that emerged from these conflicts.

By focusing on specific instances of assertions or violations of human rights during the past century, this volume analyzes the place of human rights in the various arenas of global politics, providing an alternative framework for understanding the political and legal dilemmas that emerged from these conflicts.