INTS 4875:  Human Rights and Foreign Policy

 Spring 2001

Jack Donnelly and David Goldfischer

                                 

This course explores the interaction of human rights with other foreign policy concerns, with special attention to United States foreign policy in the post-Cold War era.  The course seeks to combine, in a team taught format, standard human rights and foreign policy approaches.  Our goal is to explore the spaces that have (and have not) been and may (and may not) be available for the pursuit of human rights interests in national foreign policies.  We focus on a case study approach, in order to be able to pursue issues in depth.  Following an introductory comparative overview, we devote six weeks to U.S.-Chinese relations since Tiananmen, a case that runs the full gamut of foreign policy issues and instrumentalities short of the threat of force.  The final three weeks will be devoted to Kosovo, where the issue of force was raised in a dramatic way in what a number of commentators have seen as an historical turning point.

 

Students will write a paper of about 25 pages on a topic related to the course.  In addition, there will be weekly Blackboard assignments.  Each student will write one five-page paper that seeks to provide either a) an analytical overview of the week's readings or b) a defense or critique of a leading perspective represented in the week's reading.  In addition, each student will write two two-page comments on one of the weekly papers.  Papers need to be posted by noon on Saturday.  Comments need to be posted by noon on Monday.  Instructions for posting are available at http://www.du.edu/~jdonnell/BlackboardHelp.htm

 

 

Week 1 (March 27):  Introduction:  Human Rights and Foreign Policy

Reading:

David P. Forsythe, Human Rights and Comparative Foreign Policy, ch. 1-7, 10

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 

Recommended:

Jack Donnelly, International Human Rights, ch. 1, 4, 5 (for students without any human rights background).

Bruce W. Jentelson, American Foreign Policy:  The Dynamics of Choice in the 21st Century (for students without any U.S. foreign policy background).

 

 

Week 2 (April 3):  Tiananmen and its Aftermath

Reading:

Rosemary Foot, Rights Beyond Borders, ch. 1, 4, 5.

Michael Oksenberg, "The China Problem," Foreign Affairs Summer 1991, pp. 1-16.

Robert S. Ross, "National Security, Human Rights, and Domestic Politics:  The Bush Administration and China," in Oye, Lieber, and Rothchild, Eagle in a New World.

John F. Cooper, "Peking's Post-Tienanmen Foreign Policy:  The Human Rights Factor," Issues and Studies, October 1994, pp. 49-73.

K. V. Kesavan, "Japan and the Tiananmen Square Incident," Asian Survey, July 1990, pp. 669-681

David Arase, "Japanese Policy Toward Democracy and Human Rights in Asia," Asian Survey, October 1993, pp. 935-952

Lucian W. Pye, "China:  Erratic State, Frustrated Society," Foreign Affairs Fall 1990, pp. 56-74.

 

Recommended:

Merle Goldman, Perry Link, and Su Wei, "China's Intellectuals in the Deng Era:  Loss of Identity with the State," in Dittmer and Kim, China's Quest for National Identity.

Peter Van Ness, "Australia's Human Rights Delegation to China, 1991," in Ian Russell, Peter Vanness, and Ben-Huat Chua, Australia's Human Rights Diplomacy.

Ann Kent, "Waiting for Rights:  China's Human Rights and China's Constitutions, 1949-1989," Human Rights Quarterly 1991, pp. 170-201.

Ronald C. Keith, "China and Canada's 'Pacific 2000 Strategy'," Pacific Affairs Autumn 1992, 319-333. (available through JSTOR)

Andrew J. Nathan,  "Human Rights in Chinese Foreign Policy,"  China Quarterly September 1994, pp. 622-643.

 

 

Week 3 (April 10):  Human Rights and Asian Values

Reading:

Bilahari Kausikan.  "Asia's Different Standard."  Foreign Policy Fall 1993,  pp. 24-41.

Aryeh Neier,  "Asia's Unacceptable Standard."  Foreign Policy Fall 1993, pp. 42-51.

Zakaria, Fareed. 1994.  "Culture is Destiny:  A Conversation with Lee Kuan Yew."  Foreign Affairs 73 (March/April): 109-126.

Chandra Muzaffar, "From Human Rights to Human Dignity," in Peter Van Ness, Debating Human Rights.

Kishore Mahbubani, "An Asian Perspective on Human Rights and Freedom of the Press," in Van Ness.

Christopher Lingle, "The Propoganda Way," Foreign Affairs May-June 1995, pp. 193-196.

Inoue Tatsuo, "Liberal Democracy and Asian Orientalism," in Joanne Bauer and Daniel Bell, The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights.

Charles Taylor, "Conditions of an Unforced Consensus on Human Rights," in Bauer and Bell.

 

Recommended:

Shashi Tharoor, "Are Human Rights Universal?"  World Policy Journal Winter 1999/2000, pp. 1-6.

Yash Ghai, "Rights, Social Justice, and Globalization in East Asia," in Bauer and Bell.

 

 

Week 4 (April 17):  Human Rights in American Foreign Policy

Reading:

George F. Kennan, "Morality and Foreign Policy," Foreign Affairs Winter 1985/86, pp. 205-218.

Jack Donnelly, Realism and International Relations, ch. 6.

George F. Kennan, "On American Principles," Foreign Affairs Narch-April 1995, pp. 116-126.

Arthur J. Schlesinger, Jr., "Human Rights and the American Tradition," Foreign Affairs 1979, pp. 503-526.

William F. Buckley, "Human Rights and Foreign Policy:  A Proposal," Foreign Affairs 1980, pp. 775-796

Hans Morgenthau, "Human Rights and Foreign Policy"

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, "Dictatorships and Double Standards," Commentary November 1979, pp. 34-45. 

Jeane J. Kirkpatrick, "Establishing a Viable Human Rights Policy," in Howard J. Wiarda, Human Rights and U.S. Human Rights Policy.

Jack Donnelly, "Human Rights and Foreign Policy," in Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, ch.

 

Recommended:

Edwin S. Maynard, "The Bureaucracy and Implementation of U.S. Human Rights Policy," Human Rights Quarterly May 1989.

 

 

Week 5 (April 24):  Sino-American Relations:  An Historical Overview

Reading:

Roberta Cohen, "People's Republic of China:  The Human Rights Exception," Human Rights Quarterly November 1987.

James Mann, About Face:  A History of America's Curious Relationship with China, from Nixon to Clinton, ch. 1-10.

 

 

Week 6 (May 1):  Sanctions:  Competing Interests and Approaches in the mid-1990s

Reading:

Foot, ch. 6-7

CSIS U.S. China Policy Task Force, Developing a Consensus for the Future, Executive Summary and ch. 3.

David Lampton, "America's China Policy in the Age of the Finance Minister:  Clinton Ends Linkage," China Quarterly,  September 1994, pp. 597-621.

James Lilley, "Freedom through Trade," Foreign Policy Spring 1994, pp. 37-42.

Andrew J. Nathan, "Influencing Human Rights in China," in James R. Lilley and Wendell L. Willkie II, Beyond MFN:  Trade with China and American Interests.

A. D. McLennan, "Balance Not Containment:  A Geopolitical Take from Canberra," The National Interest Fall 1997, pp. 52-63.

Robert F. Drinan and Teresa The. Kuo, "The 1991 Battle for Human Rights in China," Human Rights Quarterly February 1992, pp. 21-42.

Richard N. Haass, "Sanctioning Madness," Foreign Affairs November-December 1997, pp. 74-85.

Harry Harding, "Breaking the Impasse over Human Rights," in Ezra Vogel, Living with China.

Ann Kent, China, The United Nations, and Human Rights, ch. 2.

Peter Van Ness, "Addressing the Human Rights Issue in Sino-American Relations," Journal of International Affairs Winter 1996.  https://wwwc.cc.columbia.edu/sec/dlc/ciao/olj/jia/jia_win9619.html

Chas. W. Freeman, "Sino-American Relations:  Back to Basics," Foreign Policy Fall 1996, pp. 3-25

Aryeh Neier, "The New Double Standard," Foreign Policy Winter 1996/7, pp. 91-106.

Kenneth Lieberthal, "A New China Strategy," Foreign Affairs November/December 1995, pp. 35-49.

James D. Seymour, "Human Rights in Chinese Foreign Relations," in Samuel S. Kim, China and the World.

 

Recommended:

Mann, ch. 11-15.

Roger W. Sulllivan, "Discarding the China Card," Foreign Policy Spring 1992, pp. 3-23.

Kent, ch. 5, 6

Robert L. Bernstein and Richard Dicker, "Human Rights First," Foreign Policy Spring 1994, pp. 43-47.

Winston Lord, "China and America:  Beyond the Big Chill," Foreign Affairs Fall 1989, pp. 1-26.

Denny Roy, "Human Rights as a National Security Threat:  The Case of the PRC," Issues and Studies February 1996, pp. 65-81.

Michael J. Sullivan, "Development and Political Repression:  China's Human Rights Policy since 1989," Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars October-December 1996, pp. 24-39.

Holly J. Burkhalter, "The 'Costs' of Human Rights," World Policy Journal Spring 1994, pp. 39-49.

Robert S. Ross, "Why Our Hardliners Are Wrong," The National Interest Fall 1997, 42-51.

Wynne P. Waller and Marianne E. Ide, "Trends:  China and Human Rights," Public Opinion Quarterly 1995.

R. Weil, "Of Human Rights and Wrong:  China and the United States," Monthly Review July/August 1994, pp. 101-113.

 

 

Week 7 (May 8):  From Sanctions to PNTR

Reading:

Foot, ch. 8-9

Elizabeth Economy and Michel Oksenberg, China Joins the World, ch. 1, 3-6.

Alastair Iain Johnston and Robert S. Ross, Engaging China:  The Management of an Emerging Power, ch. 7, 9, 10.

Zhu Feng, "Human Rights Problems and Current Sino-American Relations," in Peter Van Ness, Debating Human Rights.

David M. Lampton, "China:  Think Again," Foreign Policy Spring 1998, pp. 13-27

Bates Gill, "Limited Engagement," Foreign Affairs July/August 1999, pp. 65-76.

 

Recommended:

Mann, pp. 292-380.

Economy and Oksenberg, ch. 2, 7-9.

 

 

Week 8 (May 15):  Kosovo:  An Introduction

Reading:

Independent International Commission on Kosovo, The Kosovo Report.  http://www.kosovocommission.org/index.html

 

 

 Weeks 9 and 10:  TBA

Our tentative plan is to devote the last two weeks to group projects connected with Kosovo, but this may change based on the interests of the class.