The Strengths and Weaknesses of International Law and Human Rights Law - Assignment Example

Zhonghao Wu POL271 quiz2 26/04 Assess the strengths and weaknesses of International Law and Human Rights Law, in particular, using Realist, Liberal, Constructivist, and perspectives. International law is a body of rules which binds states and other agents in world politics and their relations with one another.” (Word Politics in A New Era p442). International law came about because of a history of war or argument by states. Not surprisingly, as realism world assert, in this environment states often follow the principles of ‘kill’ or be ‘killed’ and ‘do unto others before they can do unto you’; and the result has been frequent violent conflict and war,” (Word Politics in A New Era p441). So the world needed a global governance. Global governance is defined as “governance for a world without world government. To solve various global problems in a cooperative manner at a globe level, rules and organizations had to be established.” (Word Politics in A new Era p442). Not all the countries are obliged to comply with international laws. The non-proliferation treaty includes a clause that allows member states to withdraw. Kim Jong-II of North Korea took advantage of this provision and abandoned the treaty in 2003, declaring his country a nuclear state” (Word Politics in A new Era p447). Some states did not want to follow global governance and wanted to solve their problems alone. International law was made up of rules acceptable to all the member states. Human Rights laws are defined as a set of rules that sovereign governments should be subject to and form international legal constraints to prevent them from abusing the rights of their citizens. Human Rights laws are a relatively new phenomenon, although the idea that human beings have certain inalienable rights is not new (Word Politic in A New Era p449). It is clear that human Rights go hand in hand with international law. The UN and international law is liberal as they wanted to establish a peaceful world. “With the end of cold war, countries have been more willing to consider enforcing human rights guarantees with multilateral intervention, at least in principle.” (Word Politic in A New Era p452). It is hard to execute human rights during the cold war, unlike realism that has aggression and warfare. However, if all the countries have the right to break away from the international law, then the citizens of the countries may not experience the same level of rights as those experienced by the rest of the countries. Citizens of such countries are prone to civil wars, dictatorship, and extreme hardships during times of drought and famine. Therefore, in such cases, international law saves them in a big way so that they get justice for any unjust practices. Most of the people tried are usually high profile people in their various countries. The superpowers of the world impose sanctions on countries that do not follow international laws. As much as the international laws are meant to protect citizens from all the countries, sometimes they act as a tool to impose colonialism for poor countries. They impose sanctions if the poor countries refuse to do some things. The terms may be favorable to the superpowers yet leave the poor nations at their mercy. It is also impossible to have universal laws for all the countries since different countries have different culture hence the need for different cultures that may apply to their particular situations. (4) Compare and contrast Saine, et al., "The Social-Construction of Africa/ns in Western Media," and Adiches video, "The Danger(s) of a Single Story." First, outline each and then highlight their similarities and differences. The Social-Constriction of African in Western Media concentrates on talk about the history and politics of Africa from the perspective of the Western Media. In “the Dangers of a single story” the speaker uses different stories of one side that telling people that single view is an incomplete description and most likely ends up in a biased opinion. During the cold war, the African continent was vital to the American and Soviet Union solely for geopolitical reasons and strategic raw materials. People would not be aware of the African Content if they did not see it on BBC or ABC news channel. But according to the Social Construction of African and African in Western Media “In the first set of images, Africa is represented as a monolith, a continent riveted by civil war, famines and hunger, where fly- infested children with distanced bellies roam the bush in search of food and water,” (Images of Africa and Africans in Western Media 4). However, the question remains whether that is real Africa? As we continue learning, we realize that we should not base our opinions on one side only. Two-said story always has claim and argument. After reading “The Social Construction of African in Western Median,” I was shocked because the discussion of the African Continent was through the eyes of the western media. “In the end, the ‘Dark Continent’ metaphor and the status-quo perpetuates unequal relations of power and exploitation,” (Image of Africa and Africans in Western Media 2). For this reason, I believe that point because power is equal to politics. Politics is a zero-sun game which means one who has enough power can make up or control speech, economy, and even change history. It is clear that the dominant countries in the west have powers to control the poor countries on the African continent. “The danger of a single story” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie has more experience explaining details to individuals just like "John Locke, who sailed to West African in 1561 and kept a fascinating account of his voyage and referred to the blacks as Africa, has beasts who have a house” (Ted talk). Africa continent is a troubled land where corruption, ethnic rivalry, hunger, poverty, environmental issue and illegitimate power is rife. The continent also has beautiful scenery. “This reality, however, is masked by the pervasiveness of a well-entrenched image of African in Western mass media, fostered in the interest of maintaining a U.S. and European-centric global political order” (What Purpose do These Constructed Image of Africa Serve? 16). This one-sided information does not give an accurate view of the African continent as it is biased and is not a representative of the whole continent. The other side of the continent is that there is a lot of business going on with the Chinese. The Republic of China is interested in African agriculture although the purchase and selling of land is a sensitive issue. In the recent past, the Chinese government has been encouraging its citizens to conduct business with the African continent. It is normally not possible for an individual to tell a story of a place or a person without engaging properly with them. If they do not engage properly, then the story is likely to be one-sided with a lot of biases depending on the opinions or perspectives of the story-teller. The danger of telling a story from only one perspective is that it robs people of dignity and makes recognition of equality in humanity very difficult. Telling a story from one side mostly emphasizes on the differences rather than the similarities in human beings (Ted talk). My father once told me that one does not learn how to make money but rather the important, and the key thing is how to find money. If the developed countries contribute to the wellbeing of the African continent by doing business with them, sharing technology and teaching them how to run a country successfully, then it would make an enormous impact on the economy of the world as a whole. Without any unity, the countries engage in war and conflict that ends up being destructive. All in all, both materials talk about the similar stories of the African continent. Most people in the other continents have different views on what the African continent is. This is because most of the information they get is from the western media which is already biased. It is important that the Western media remains objective in all their stories in order for people to understand issues as they are rather than from an already biased opinion. The African continent not only has the negative values as some positive attributes can still be found. For instance, there are a lot of natural-occurring minerals that are in Africa. However, these countries lack the technological know-how on how to extract the said minerals hence has to import not only technology but also manpower to extract the minerals. These foreign companies usually charge exorbitant fees to do such work hence any efforts by the countries to move forward are futile. Furthermore, most of the African countries export a lot of finished products from the western countries. If the money these African countries spend is higher than what they get as revenue, then the issue of poverty is unlikely to end in the near future. The African continent is further plagued by weak leadership that increases the levels of corruption and poor governance in the countries. If Africa is to realize its potential, it needs to come up with proper strategies to maintain its wealth and improve their technology in order to catch up with the rest of the continents. Works Cited Steven Spielberg, Elizabeth Matthews and Jennifer Taw. World Politics in a New Era . Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013. Read More