International Human Rights in Post-Colonial Africa

Universality in Perspective

Santino Ayuel Longar Dau

• Publisher: University of Wales Press
• Year: 2024
• Print ISBN: 9781837720668
• eBook ISBN: 9781837720682
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: African Politics
• Index: Politics & International Relations

This study advances three interrelated claims for international human rights standards (IHRS). First, that post-colonial African societies are bureaucratic modern states and capitalist societies to which IHRS are suitable for application, pursuant to the Modified Modernisation Theory. The sweeping vicissitudes that have taken place in post-colonial Africa since colonial eras necessitate a paradigm shift: we must change our assumptions about the structural and socio-politico-economic systems of post-colonial Africa and their impact on individual and group rights. Second, that extant pleadings for cultural relativism in post-colonial Africa are fixated on reified assumptions about the minimal role of the individual. Today, however, every state relies on its individual subjects for its institutional and socio-politico-economic development, just as every individual relies on the state for a more secure, fulfilling and dignified human existence. Finally, the book advances legal and moral justifications for the universality of human rights standards, notwithstanding global cultural heterogeneity.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Series Preface
• Contents
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Figure
• List of Abbreviations
• 1 Universalism versus Cultural Relativism in the African Debate on International Human Rights
• 2 Between Universalism and Cultural Relativism: Unpacking the Key Concepts
• 3 Application of the Modified Modernisation Theory to Explain the Relevance of Human Rights to Africa
• 4 International Human Rights as Sui Generis Moral and Legal Rights: A Justification for Universality
• 5 Conclusion
• Bibliography
• Notes