Justice in the United States Human Rights and the Constitution

by Blau, Judith; Moncada, Alberto

• ISBN13: 9780742545601
• ISBN10: 0742545601
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-03-03
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

All populations, including people living in the United States experience new vulnerabilities with globalization. Peoples' jobs are threatened; there are pressures to migrate; and environmental degradation is epidemic. Immense wealth is concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite. Other countries have revised their constitutions to protect their citizens from these turbulent forces. The US is a major exception, and this book proposes how Americans might think about constitutional revisions.

Author Biography

Judith Blau is professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina and chair of the interdisciplinary program in Social and Economic Justice Alberto Moncada is president of Sociologists without Borders. He has been a professor at the University of Madrid, Stanford University

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
List of Abbreviations	xi
The Idea of Rights	1	(40)
Appendix 1.1. Dates of Constitutions for Contemporary Nation-States	25	(6)
Appendix 1.2. Amendments to the U.S. Constitution	31	(4)
Appendix 1.3. Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action	35	(3)
Appendix 1.4. Indicators of Economic Decline and Inequality in the United States	38	(3)
The Social Foundations of Human Rights	41	(18)
Constitutions: Overview and Comparisons	59	(26)
Capitalism and Rights: An Antagonistic Relationship	85	(24)
Appendix 4.1. Roosevelt's Second Bill of Rights	108	(1)
Growing Inequalities	109	(12)
The Global Struggle for Economic Security	121	(50)
Appendix 6.1. International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights	151	(7)
Appendix 6.2. Fundamental Conventions of the International Labour Organization	158	(2)
Appendix 6.3. Economic Rights in Contemporary Constitutions (extracts)	160	(11)
In Search of Society	171	(26)
Appendix 7.1. Excerpts from the Preamble of the Cultural Charter for Africa	194	(3)
Cornucopia of Rights	197	(44)
Appendix 8.1. The Language of Solidarity	215	(4)
Appendix 8.2. Pluralism in Contemporary Constitutions	219	(7)
Appendix 8.3. Constitutional Provisions for Economic Rights, Women's Rights, Maternal Rights, Minority Rights, and Health Care Rights	226	(6)
Appendix 8.4. Environmental Rights: Extracts from Selected Constitutions	232	(9)
A Socratic Dialogue	241	(14)
Draft Revision of the U.S. Constitution	255	(14)
Index	269	(16)
About the Authors	285