democracy and human rights essay

Human Rights and Democracy: An Incompatible or Complementary Relationship?

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Introduction

The purpose of human rights is to allow for a transcendence of the nation state in terms of individual entitlement to an enjoyment of rights wherever individuals may find themselves (Landman 2013, 26). However, with respect to the varying philosophical and historical foundations of human rights, the supposed universality of human rights is debatable. States that reliably receive praise for their human rights records include most European countries, the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. What these countries have in common is a democratic political system and independent judiciaries that protect citizen rights (Posner 2014, 5). This observable fact would lead us to believe that democratic institutions are necessary for a thorough protection of human rights. However, in a non-cosmopolitan context, the logic of democracy necessitates constructing a barrier between those who belong to the demos and those excluded (Mouffe 2000, 4). This creates the condition for the existence of democratic citizenship rights. It also challenges the supposed universality of human rights, since those excluded from the demos, such as refugees, stateless persons or the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, have no government to protect their supposedly natural rights.

The purpose of this essay is to traverse the tensions between human rights and democracy. It is argued that these tensions originate from the incompatible values upon which human rights and democracy were distinctly founded, the ways in which they are applied and the types of politics that they make possible. Following a short history of the emergence of human rights into the contemporary political consciousness, I explore the conflicts and paradoxes inherent to the human rights/liberalism/democracy nexus. Drawing on the work of political philosopher Chantal Mouffe, I show that there is a bifurcated mutual dependency to this relationship. One the one hand, the appeal to human rights is necessary in order to naturalise the notion of popular sovereignty for the democratic nation state. On the other hand, the democratic logic of constituting the people and bestowing rights is necessary to subvert the tendency towards the abstract universalism that is characteristic of liberal discourse (Mouffe 2000, 44).  Finally, against a discussion of the taboo against torture, the notion that the most effective way to protect human rights is through democratic institutions is considered.

A (Brief) History of Human Rights

Some scholars have argued that human rights have a centuries-long history (Ishay 2004). Others perceive them to be a modern legal construction that emerged out of the institution of citizenship rights (Moyn 2012; Posner 2014). Following the Second World War these rights were universalised via a set of agreements that generated the contemporary international regime for the promotion and protection of human rights (Donnelly 2006). In The Last Utopia , legal history scholar Samuel Moyn (2012) argues that human rights only entered the global political consciousness in the 1970s. Moyn claims that at this point in time other kinds of utopianism, such as Communism and national liberation, began to weaken. Human rights suddenly became attractive because they provided a moral discourse and a set of ethical standards superficially above politics, as well as offered a minimalist utopianism that mitigated suffering without seeking to radically transform the world (McLoughlin 2016, 304). During the same decade the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights finally took effect, the Helsinki process began, Amnesty International was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, dissident movements across the world began to adopt the language of rights and President Carter proclaimed human rights to be central to US foreign policy (Posner 2014, 19). For the Left, revolutionary aspirations started to be replaced by a global morality that sought to alleviate signs of suffering (McNeilly 2016). Human rights abuses defined authoritarianism, so human rights protection became the logical antidote to such evils. Legal theorist Daniel McLoughlin (2016, 311) argues that in this environment anti-authoritarianism legitimated capitalist liberal democracies by opposing them to a political ‘Other’ that lacked respect for human rights. While some commentators argue that the moral discourse of human rights is “the most we can hope for” (Ignatieff 2001), there are others who challenge this paradigm by contending that we need to develop a radical critique of liberal democratic state power that abandons the ‘good versus evil’ dichotomy (McNeilly 2016; Whyte 2012). This is because human rights in their current liberal form operate to reinforce existing power relations, rather than enabling their takedown.

Human Rights and Citizenship Rights – Two Peas in a Pod?

The 1776 United States Declaration of Independence and the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen are widely cited as the provenance of human rights (Landman 2013, 28). For example, human rights scholar Agostinho Reis Monteiro (2014, 373) argues that since both these declarations made the respect for human rights directly connected to the principle of popular sovereignty, these two concepts are therefore “historically, conceptually and politically indissociable.” Indeed, the Rights of Man states that ‘men are born and remain free and equal of right’, which is also a claim echoed in the opening article of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights . Here, equality and liberty are decreed as “natural entitlements” (Douzinas 2013, 55). However, the Universal Declaration is clear about the basis of universal human rights by stating that “the aim of any political association is to preserve the natural and inalienable rights of man” and that “the principle of all Sovereignty lies essentially with the nation” (Articles 2 & 3 respectively, quoted in Douzinas 2013, 55). Thus, as McLoughlin (2016, 315) argues, the political history of modern liberal democracies is characterised by the gap between “the universalism of the rights of man” and the rift between “white propertied men with full citizenship rights” and “slaves, women, workers, and people of colour” who have been traditionally excluded from the political sphere. By virtue of being allowed to participate in the political, those with citizenship rights are thus able to reify their humanity (Shaap 2013, 4).

Political philosopher Hannah Arendt (1966) interrogates this dynamic between human rights and citizenship rights in her seminal book, The Origins of Totalitarianism . Arendt critiques post-1948 human rights developments for being based on an abstraction of humanity rather than on a viable opportunity for political participation. Arendt argues that human rights only become meaningful when they are recognised in a political society. Thus, for Arendt, more significant than the right to freedom or the right to equality is “the right to have rights.” Ultimately, the problem with the rights of man is that legal rights depend upon membership to a political community. Those excluded from political communities do not have citizenship rights to protect them, so are in reality left with no rights at all. This is premised on the notion that when man and citizen are separated, we recognise that “the world finds nothing sacred in the abstract nakedness of being human” (Arendt 1966, 299). While there has since been a massive growth of the international human rights regime, Arendt’s skepticism concerning the universality of human rights still carries weight. Excluded-citizens may enjoy some human rights, but they ultimately remain the most vulnerable to persecution and expulsion (Nash 2009, 89).

Similar to Arendt, political philosopher Giorgio Agamben’s (1998, 127) analysis of the Rights of Man criticizes its assertion that the rights it affirms are bestowed to both citizen and Man. For Agamben, the universal and abstract image of Man is a modern representation of “bare life.” This metaphor reflects the existence of a human prior to belonging to the political. In Ancient Greek society the conceptual opposition between Man and citizen was expressed in a distinction between citizens who made up the polis, and the slaves, women and children who were excluded (McLoughlin 2016, 312). The modern expression of this classical separation between life and politics manifests itself in a different way. These days, liberal democracies justify their sovereign power on the need to protect the life of their citizens. To do this, modern democratic states now produce more extreme forms of political exclusion that the abstract framework of human rights is unable to address (McLoughlin 2016, 312).

Contemporary democracies are therefore inherently paradoxical because “the territorial borders of a democracy cannot themselves be democratic” (DeGooyer 2014, 101). While nation states profess to grant rights to their citizens based on their common humanity, they also exclude all those located beyond their borders in the name of maintaining national sovereignty and demarcating national identity. In this context, the refugee logically becomes an anomaly of the international system of sovereign states. According to international migration scholar Emma Haddad (2008, 69), refugees are not an indication of this system “going wrong”.  Rather, they are “an inherent if unanticipated part of the system.” Citizenship attempts to sort bare life into harmonised territories but in the process some individuals become stuck in between. In this way, the refugee demonstrates a failure of certain governments to protect their citizens and of the state system as a whole, which fails to protect all humans as citizens (Haddad 2008, 69). The refugee also becomes the necessary ‘Other’ so that national citizens of the modern state are able to forge an identity. According to Haddad (2008, 47), the rise of national identity, which attached itself to the system of international relations following the Declaration of Independence and the Rights of Man, has become “the new indicator of allegiance,” while the refugee is “the imagined outsider who allowed the concept of the nation-state to take hold.” Thus, the state and the stateless “are caught in a mutual embrace” (DeGooyer 2014, 101).  In light of this analysis, even if the most effective way to protect human rights is through democratic institutions, it seems almost disingenuous if the same human rights cannot be enjoyed by individuals excluded from the demos.

Navigating the Tension between Liberalism, Democracy and Human Rights

Political philosopher Chantal Mouffe’s theorising on the impact that liberalism has on democratic institutions helps to deconstruct the compatibility of human rights and democracy. For Mouffe (2000, 2), democracy is both a form of rule upholding the principle of the sovereignty of the people, as well as a symbolic framework within which this democratic rule is employed. What makes modern Western democracy truly ‘modern’ and ‘Western’ is that this symbolic framework is now informed by the liberal tradition constituted by the rule of law, the respect for individual liberty, protection from oppressive state interference and the defence of human rights. These values form the key tenets of the contemporary Western worldview. Conversely, the democratic tradition emphasises the values of equality, popular sovereignty and a division between the governing and the governed. Indeed, as Amartya Sen (2003) has argued, democracy as manifested through liberalism and the ballot box is a Western construct, while democracy as expressed through ‘public reason’ (in other words, deliberation) is truly universal. Mouffe (2000, 3) claims that there is no necessary connection between liberalism and democracy, “only a contingent historical articulation,” which I have explored in the preceding paragraphs. Nevertheless, there is a widespread assumption that democracy and human rights are inherently compatible (Landman 2013, 7). For Mouffe (2000, 4), this assumption has had the effect of privileging excessive liberalism, whilst neglecting the fact that the legitimacy of liberal democracy remains premised on popular sovereignty.

It thus follows that hegemony of neoliberalism becomes a threat to democratic institutions. States are the main agents in the realisation of democracy and human rights. However, globalising forces have encroached on the state’s ability to freely implement policies, including policies concerning human rights. This phenomenon has been identified as a “democratic deficit” (Mouffe 2000, 15). Here, elected governments lack the power to control neoliberal economic processes and the follow-on effects of major world crises (Cedroni 2012, 261). Indeed, one only has to consider the history of decisions made by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and the World Trade Organisation, which have overwhelmingly served the interests of the Global North without much concern for negative human rights consequences. Neoliberal creeds about the inviolable rights of property, the sweeping virtues of the market and the risks of interfering with its logic have become common sense in liberal-democratic societies. But as Mouffe (2000, 6) explains, the ensuing “democratic deficit” can severely threaten allegiance to democratic institutions by those citizens whose concerns have been excluded from the elite’s political and societal priorities. Indeed, the recent rise of right-wing demagogy in the West seems to eerily confirm Mouffe’s trepidations. Democracy is about compromise and negotiation between disparate opinions, “not zero-sum scorched earth attacks on anyone who does not follow the orthodoxy of one political group” (Shattuck 2016, 182). A commitment to democracy constitutes a never-ending task to ensure popular control and political equality (Charlesworth 2013, 280). Yet, since there is always the threat of “a tyranny of the majority,” liberal democratic institutions should never be taken for granted. As Mouffe (2000, 4) prescribes, this necessitates recognising the tension originating from the inner workings of democracy on the one hand, and liberalism on the other.

The Universal Violation of Human Rights

Through the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , states have committed themselves to respecting and safeguarding human rights. Nevertheless, states remain the greatest violators of human rights (Cedroni 2012, 257). However, the moralisation of human rights has led to a shift in attention away from the structural violence triggered by neoliberal capitalism towards more egregious acts of violence (Whyte 2012). In this way, human rights tend to prioritise the rights of individuals, which draws focus away from the rights claims of societies, communities and families (Donnelly 2006, 616). For example, political theorist Robert Meister (2011, 66) has observed the phenomenon of “the humanitarian melodrama,” which is the enjoyment of the moral feeling we get through witnessing the pain of bodies. For Meister, physical pain is always perceived as an egregious violation of human rights. However, the same is often not said of other types of violence such as abuses along the supply chain or mass incarceration (Whyte 2012). For example, Amnesty’s 1976 report that documented abuses in Argentina, which contributed to the organisation being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, did not comment on the growing poverty or the cutback of social welfare programs (as was the policy linchpin of the junta government) (Whyte 2012). Indeed, the international human rights regime is not a complete solution for social justice or human emancipation (Donnelly 2006, 616). In theory, this is unproblematic since different ethical, legal, and political practices need to come together for the functioning of an effective society. In practice, however, human rights today often exclude larger emancipatory visions and can even have morally perverse unintended consequences (Donnelly 2006, 616). For example, the way in which torture is construed as the ultimate human rights violation has the effect of limiting the ways we conceptualise violence and rights violations at a broader structural level (Kelly 2011, 328). In this way, the pathologising of torture has reduced the politics of human rights to a discussion about the need to limit gratuitous pain, rather than, for instance, the collective redistribution of wealth (Kelly 2011, 328).

This trend of sensationalising overt pain has inadvertently led to a pernicious form of torture (Kelly 2011, 328). Far from being the leftovers of our pre-civilised past, or a custom reserved for authoritarian regimes, political scientist Darius Rejali (2007) argues that there is a particular type of torture practiced by liberal democracies, namely what he has dubbed “clean tortures.” These are techniques that are designed to leave no traces. Such techniques include: Tasers; extremely hot or cold showers; refrigerated cells; sleep deprivation; and the infliction of noise (Rejali 2007, 553-7 for complete list). Rejali (2007, 39) links the development of clean torture techniques to the corresponding development of democratic monitoring, both domestic and international, that are intended to prevent torture. Rejali (2007, 390) argues that it is no coincidence that clean tortures began to spread rapidly in the 1970s, right about the same time when Amnesty was raising awareness of the significance of torture as a human rights issue. This increased sensitivity to signs of pain in our collective conscience has thus had the effect of perpetuating a type of torture available to democracies that is arguably more insidious given that it is harder to see.

In The Twilight of Human Rights legal scholar Eric Posner (2014, 112) argues, that even if human rights at the international level were enforceable, there is little reason to believe that individual human rights would promote the wellbeing of all people in a diverse collection of countries “where the interests, values, and needs of the populations cannot be captured in a simple list of rights.” Consider the rise of living standards and advancement of economic rights in China over the last 30 years. Hundreds of millions of people have been brought out of poverty. Posner (2014, 91) suggests that given the lack of democratic culture in China, and the extraordinary political turmoil that existed there until rather recently, there would be a significant risk to the management of the economy (and even societal peace) if China were to suddenly comply with civil and political rights. Liberal democracies run into the mirror image of this predicament. Democratic legislatures are often reluctant to formulate laws in compliance with the cosmopolitan norms of human rights. In the example of counter-terrorism measures in the US and UK, courts have repeatedly judged legislation intended to allow arbitrary detention unlawful. In any case, governments remain unwilling to respect well-established international human rights norms (Nash 2009, 99). As elected representatives, politicians are often unwilling to risk appearing soft on those who are perceived to threaten the state’s safety. This broad trend in contemporary politics shows that even in democratic societies there are contexts in which human rights are simply not popular (Nash 2009, 99). As we can see, it is thus impossible to separate the world into “good democratic states” that protect human rights and “bad authoritarian states” that are the biggest violators (Posner 2014, 121).

Conclusions

This essay has sought to navigate some tensions between human rights and democracy. It was argued that these tensions originate from the conflicting values upon which human rights and democracy were distinctly founded, the ways in which they are applied and the kinds of politics that they make room for. The careful juggling between the preservation of democratic institutions and the protection of human rights will thus remain shaky, even in the best of times. These tensions have risen out of the rift between liberal democracy’s conceptualisation of the universal Man and the national citizen, or rather, “the real beneficiary of rights” (Douzinas 2013, 56). Since rights form the basis upon which people are allocated into rulers, ruled, and excluded, it is hard to imagine a utopia in which human rights exist for those who do not belong to a demos (Douzinas 2013, 59).

This essay has also considered the broader shift in contemporary political discourse that interprets human rights as a moral story of ‘good versus evil.’ This is a false dichotomy, since states fall along a continuum of human rights compliance. Many states with authoritarian governments are responsive to the needs and interests of their populations and do protect the more significant human rights just as well as democratic governments are able to (Dryzek 2016, 362). This discussion is important because we ought to interrogate whether the human rights project epitomised by Amnesty International is the best solution to the banal lack of freedom, justice and equality experienced by people in all parts of the contemporary world.

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Agamben, G 1998, Homo Sacer: Sovereign Power and Bare Life , Stanford University Press, Stanford.

Cedroni, L 2012, ‘Rights in Progress. The Politics of Rights and the Democracy-Building Processes in Comparative Perspective,’ in C Corradetti (ed), Philosophical Dimensions of Human Rights: Some Contemporary Views , Springer, Dordrecht,  pp. 253-264.

Charlesworth, H 2013,  ‘Is there a Human Right to Democracy?’, in C Holder and D Reidy (eds), Human Rights: The Hard Questions , Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 271-284.

DeGooyer, S 2014, ‘Democracy, Give or Take?’, Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism and Development , vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 93-110.

Donnelly 2006, ‘Human Rights’, in JS Dryzek, B Honnig and A Phillips (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory , Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 601-620.

Douzinas, C 2013, ‘The Paradoxes of Human Rights’, Constellations , vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 51-67.

Dryzek, JS 2016, ‘Can There Be a Human Right to an Essentially Contested Concept? The Case of Democracy,’ The Journal of Politics , vol. 78, no. 2, pp. 357-367.

Haddad, E 2008, The Refugee in International Society: Between Sovereigns , Cambridge University Press, New York.

Ignatieff, M 2001, Human Rights as Politics and Idolatry , Princeton, Princeton University Press.

Ishay, M 2004, ‘What are Human Rights? Six Historical Controversies,’ Journal of Human Rights , vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 359-371.

Kelly, T 2011, ‘What We Talk About When We Talk About Torture’, Humanity: An International Journal of Human Rights, Humanitarianism and Development , vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 327-343.

Landman, T 2013, Human Rights and Democracy: The Precarious Triumph of Ideals , Bloomsbury, London.

Meister, R 2011, After Evil , Columbia University Press, New York.

McLoughlin, D 2016, ‘Post-Marxism and the Politics of Human Rights: Lefort, Badiou, Agamben, Ranciére’, Law Critique , vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 303-321.

McNeilly, K 2016, ‘After the Critique of Rights: For a Radical Democratic Theory and Practice of Human Rights’, Law Critique , vol. 27, no. 3, pp.269-288

Mouffe, C 2000, The Democratic Paradox , Verso, London.

Moyn, S 2012, The Last Utopia , Belknap Press, Harvard.

Nash, K 2009, ‘Democratic Human Rights’, in R Morgan and BS Turner (eds), Interpreting Human Rights: Social Science Perspectives , Routledge, New York, pp. 87-103.

Posner, EA 2014, The Twilight of Human Rights Law , Oxford University Press, New York.

Reis Monteiro, A 2014, Ethics of Human Rights , Springer, Cham.

Rejali, D 2007, Torture and Democracy , Princeton University Press, Princeton.

Sen, A 2003, ‘Democracy and its Global Roots’, The New Republic , 6 October 2003, pp. 28-35.

Shaap, A 2013, ‘Human Rights and the Political Paradox’, Australian Humanities Review , no. 33, pp. 1-22.

Shattuck, J 2016, ‘Democracy and its Discontents’, The Fletcher Forum of World Affairs , vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 173-184.

Whyte, J 2012, ‘Intervene, I said’, Overland , no. 207 Winter, viewed 19 October 2016, <https://overland.org.au/previous-issues/issue-207/feature-jessica-whyte/>.

Written by: Lillian Carson Written at: The University of Melbourne Written for: Course: Human Rights; Degree: Master of International Relations Date written: November 2016

Further Reading on E-International Relations

  • Do Human Rights Protect or Threaten Security?
  • Human Rights and Security in Public Emergencies
  • Cultural Relativism in R.J. Vincent’s “Human Rights and International Relations”
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The Relationship Between Democracy and Human Rights

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The most effective way to protect human rights is through independent domestic legal institutionsand the best way to uphold those is via democracy." Critically assess the relationship between democracy and human rights.

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democracy and human rights essay

Human Rights and Democracy

The protection of fundamental human rights was a foundation stone in the establishment of the United States over 200 years ago. Since then, a central goal of U.S. foreign policy has been the promotion of respect for human rights, as embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Supporting democracy not only promotes such fundamental American values as religious freedom and worker rights, but also helps create a more secure, stable, and prosperous global arena in which the United States can advance its national interests. In addition, democracy is the one national interest that helps to secure all the others. Democratically governed nations are more likely to secure the peace, deter aggression, expand open markets, promote economic development, protect American citizens, combat international terrorism and crime, uphold human and worker rights, avoid humanitarian crises and refugee flows, improve the global environment, and protect human health.

The United States uses a wide range of tools to advance a freedom agenda, including bilateral diplomacy, multilateral engagement, foreign assistance, reporting and public outreach, and economic sanctions. The Department of State works with democratic partners, international and regional organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and engaged citizens to support those seeking freedom.

Read more about what specific bureaus are doing to support this policy issue:

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (DRL): DRL leads U.S. efforts to promote democracy, to protect human rights and international religious freedom, and to advance labor rights globally. Read more about DRL

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The Struggle for Human Rights: Essays in honour of Philip Alston

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7 Democracy and Democracies

  • Published: September 2021
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The chapter examines understandings of democracy expressed in recent decades by international agreements, both global and regional, and by ‘official actors’ in the organizations created under those agreements such as political leaders, bureaucratic staff, and judges. The threshold question is how these agreements and actors describe the essential elements of a democratic state. The dominant question is how they portray relationships between political democracy and rights, particularly international human rights. The essay’s illustrations of those relationships involve principally the European, inter-American, and African regional systems, and are taken from their formative documents, commissions, and judicial decisions. The explored relationships pose questions like: Are rights now considered essential to a democracy, imbedded within it? What functions do they serve? Which rights are here particularly relevant?

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Democracy and the Human rights Essay Example

Democracy and the Human rights Essay Example

  • Pages: 10 (2740 words)
  • Published: August 10, 2016
  • Type: Essay

Human rights refer to the fundamental rights to life, the pursuit of happiness and the liberty of life. Thus this refers to the complete freedom one expects from their governments and the authorities that protect them from their daily lives. The human rights are considered the individual possessions and are the best for any individual in the whole world. The human rights should not be confused with democracy which is defined as a government by the people whereby the supreme power is vested in them, ie the same people and is used by the people or the interchangeably by their agents directly under the electoral systems.

Thus, democracy needs to be tied together with the human rights and not the opposite. There is the concept of democratisation which refers t

o the express way in which there is a clear way and the direction of changes as the political movements way of changing things which can be used in any given system not only for the worst managed system but the good ones too. Again there is the concept of democracy and these refers to the uncontested, theories of democracy which may involve contested claims about the value of democracy and how this is realized in a good and properly managed institution atmosphere.

Democracy has past through a lot of the bad and the good sides. It has led to many shading their blood in the name of helping them achieve a world full of the democratically Free State and countries. Citizens of any country worldwide need to enjoy the freedom of expression together with a free and democratic society. The rights

for any individual need not be tempered with because the individuals need these rights in order to be free from any wrong doing and engage in any activity that requires them to be free and just.

In order for these individuals to be free, there need to be the freedom of expression and the speech in all manner of ways and the states. These rights needs to be widespread to other areas and helps the majority of the people to get to understand and make their impacts known. People when they are born, they have the rights to associations and the rights to play study and change the world through their activities that are conducive to the society and may not make them wanted for law breaking purposes. Individuals in any society may be free when their government are not free.

This is because the individuals may have a right to play but their own government does not have a right to play within its laws or rather the constitutions. This then affects the individual’s rights and freedom of expression as noted by (Teeple 2004) Effects of Citizens on Human rights The citizens of the any particular country may have their individual’s effects on the human rights situations in their own country. This they do out of their ignorance and sometimes the bad behaviour associated with affecting others right and their free will.

This in turn does not help them either but is a conversant way of ensuring that the democracy in any nation is upheld and is the best in the whole world. The United States constitution does not give the

freedom of religion or the freedom of the press. It thus does not want the congress to be found passing the laws interfering with the freedom religion, speech and the peaceful assembly. Thus the people of the United States are free to be associated with any church and also free to the press but its not one of their fundamental laws associated with their citizens.

This explains why the individuals may be free but their state or country may not. This one example of the free people and not free country is justified. Citizens of the democratic society live through the lives with the hope that, if they speak the truth, democracy is achieved through by all means. They believe that if only the truth is told, then they will have achieved their democratic gains and made significant steps ahead. Politicians and Human rights The human rights laws are mostly affected by the politicians who come with there usual style and destruct the human rights policy.

This is indeed the point of the matter at hand. Human rights abuses are so much caused by the majority of the people who are subject to the rules of the company. The politicians are the first to undergo the human rights abuses. An example for this is the recent arrest of Charles Taylor a strong and worst leader of the recent times. He was involved in the formulation of the basic bad laws and was also a politician who helped bring the human rights work in the republic of the Liberia go to the dogs.

This is one person who has extended the rule of

the and examples of the human rights rules and principles. Charles Taylor is still the person who killed many people and caused the majority of the people of the republic of Liberia to wage war on one another. He is said to have masterminded the execution of the majority of the Citizens and the outright killing of the majority of the people. He is said to have been the chief financier of the all the massacre of the largest provinces in the republic of Liberia.

This has made him to booked for the cases of human rights abuse and he is likely to be jailed after that. Another example is then the genocide in the Rwanda republic, here millions of citizens were taken and killed for no reason at all. They were said to have been taken through the toughest and most brutal execution to ever have happen in the republic of the Rwanda. These people are said to have been cut with hoes and some beheaded while their families watched in despair and had no option but to watch as their only remaining parents were being killed.

This happen in a span of so few years and many of the people were massacred. Many of the people are still not recovered but have undergone their eventual counselling in order to fully recover and be back to construction of their own beloved country. There has been genocide from major African societies among the African communities. These genocides are manifested by the very politicians who are elected by the people and are made answerable to them. But the politicians have achieved nothing from doing

nothing to the society and this has labelled them as affecting the human rights worldwide.

These issues and the actual killing of the innocent people like the example of the recent Kenyan political crisis that left many people killed, maimed and some beheaded in the name of ethnic cleasing. This was said to have been funded by the very same politicians who are seeking the blessings of their people again in order to help them grow politically. Another example still comes from the Zimbabwe country which has seen most of its resources blatantly used by the one Robert Mugabe the president who has served as the president for the last 24 years.

This president has refused to give the young generation hand in the country to enable them rule. This is witnessed by the blatant use of the public resources during the campaigns an still up to this moment; the elections results are not yet announced. These are a show of the abuse of the human rights because the people on the ground have been believed to have voted for the opposition candidate Mr Morgan. Military and the Human rights The United Nations has a full unit of the human rights which encompasses the universal declaration of the Human rights.

The international lawyers consider all the universal declaration as having all the traditional universal law establishing a common basis on which to judge the nations basing on their abuse of the human rights. The greater international community has started to exert pressure on the articulating these norms and codifying the principles of the human rights. The military have been used severally for

the abuses of the human rights by the whole countries in the whole world.

This has many examples such as the United States that used it military power to unjustly kill and maim the peaceful citizens of Iraq republic. The United States military have been given orders to kill in Iraq and this they have done with due order from above. This is one example of the human rights abuse and has been infringing on the well being of the citizens of the Iraq regime. The police in the Kenyan situation were ordered to kill any innocent citizens who were on the opposing side of the current government found on the streets of the major towns in Kenya situation.

This again is the violations of the human rights on the Kenya citizens of the opposing side of the political of supremacy. Market economy and the democracy Market affects democracy in many ways that anybody will ever know. Democracy is hard to be felt in a market situation where the market is an independent state. Thus if the market is an independent state, it will not overlook the democratic gains made earlier on. This because the market is the people who come together for the good of the buying and selling things within an area or location.

Democracy controls the market through the following ways; it may help in establishing the good electoral system, creates public options and creates the organized pressure that may be needed for the systematic help that is required whenever we have any pressure issue amid any democratically elected government. Therefore the government must in control of the movements

of the people and the goods. The market removes the central role from the politicians to the public and these helps in the management of the democratically elected people and the good of the people.

This has helped shape the democracy and built good alliances among the whole people in the country. If the market is free, it accelerates the economic and social status of every individual work and the sustains the economic outlook of the individuals and the country. This free market scenario is expanded the good democraticy and made available what was not initially available. Market differences undermine the principles of the democratic policies and are hard for the economic and the political choices.

The individualised decisions are prioritised over the collective decisions. The effective government helps justify and protect the liberties of every individual. It also widens the facets of the good democracy and opens ways in which the democracy can grow and hence foster good economic reforms that may help the government to realize the fruits economic unity as noted by Farmers (2003). Under the conclusion of the liberalism, if the state owns and controls property, it may deny the same property to the individuals and make them look like the bad people while they are not.

It may also deny the citizens the opportunity to their livelihood and the freedom of expression which may be a big problem in the long run to entire cohort of the citizens. Again the socialised property may deny the citizens their property and the nature of the being. This may again deny them the right to associate and the right to

freedom of assembly. The market belongs to the civil society but we should whenever defining the democratic rules and the democracy, we should not exclude the term civil society from the market situation.

Market economy also affects the democracy through it be taken in most cases as an activity which is private. This makes the growth of the market be solely answerable to the government of the day and this prohibits the democratic space available for the growth of the democratic values. So, again, the market serves as a state for the electoral contest and this advances the democratic gains way ahead of the other gains. Thus market freedoms and the political freedoms are mutually supportive of one another and this helps the market and the whole majority of the people appreciate good democracy.

The rules of the laws as applies to any other regions, it may also be used in the markets and the democratic ways. Thus all markets should have the rules and all the democratic values should too have the rules that govern them through the electoral process. The sovereignty of the all consumers and the voters lie in the rules that govern the whole markets and the democracy worldwide. The market economy is necessarily for long term growth and this is a good move because it helps mend the many fences against the democracy. Liberalism and the democracy

Liberalism has the foundations and a very significant constraint upon the democracy of the whole world today. Liberty should be one thing with the democracy. Their relationships should be the one with the mutual necessity and the source of the

tension. Classical liberalism has proved to be quite indispensable to the maintenance of the democracy at the national level. But though liberalism is a constraint to democracy, it has been historically possible for the liberals to provide for the necessarily and the constrain of the democratic process.

Liberalism and the democracy thus, do not help much but it serves us the effective tool to evaluate the prospective work of the democratic process and the young democratic values of any given country. Though not all individual’s rights are the democratic rights. The rights of the individual’s citizen’s to meet regularly and collectively in order to exercise their own rights of associations. Democratic rights are the individual’s rights which are necessary to get the secure and the popular control of the whole process.

The liberal democracy has been through the successive struggles between itself and the various types of the democracies the world over. The extend of this and its form has been a point of debate for the variety of the liberalists and the demacrats. Therefore democracy has been derailed mostly in effect to the larger women folk. The women who have complained of the exclusion from the citizenship have argued that, the grounds under which that took effect are not as viable and have led to disunity in the family situations and made life hard for the whole family.

The liberalist thought that the ability to have any property makes you a citizens and nothing else. But in a spirited move, the democrats disputed that fact and opted for registration and the outright naturalisation. The capacity for individuals to have the responsibilities

to make decisions about ones own plan of life were made basing on the fact that, all adults are equal and they have their rights the same way through. Over the years, there have been struggles between the liberalists and the democrats that have not reached any conclusive measures.

But the one thing that comes out of this struggle is the extension of the suffrage and the kind of the social agenda that has been politically controlled over the years. There the socialists and the social democracy which argues against the wealth management can influence access to the political resources and make this life harder for those people who politicise and lastly, it prevents their access to the public decision making which in turn is refusing to give them the right to freedom of the assembly.

Women have also again argued for the labour divisions as not good for the family growth. This has hampered the family equality and changed the whole imaginations of people and the decisions making process. Whereas the liberalists have given us a very well calculated assumption, they haven’t justified it and this remains as one of the biggest and greatest challenge of these time.

Conclusions

The violation of the human rights situations is widespread and is moving from the industrialised countries down those the developing countries. This has an aspect of reducing the rights of any free individuals in the whole world. The situation as it is currently, whereby there individuals with massive human rights cases on their heads should be either be prosecuted and arraigned in courts and taken to prisons. Again democracy does in

no mean way support the human rights which are fundamental for the well being of any society.

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Essay on Human Rights: Samples in 500 and 1500

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Essay on Human Rights

Essay writing is an integral part of the school curriculum and various academic and competitive exams like IELTS , TOEFL , SAT , UPSC , etc. It is designed to test your command of the English language and how well you can gather your thoughts and present them in a structure with a flow. To master your ability to write an essay, you must read as much as possible and practise on any given topic. This blog brings you a detailed guide on how to write an essay on Human Rights , with useful essay samples on Human rights.

This Blog Includes:

The basic human rights, 200 words essay on human rights, 500 words essay on human rights, 500+ words essay on human rights in india, 1500 words essay on human rights, importance of human rights, essay on human rights pdf.

Also Read: List of Human Rights Courses

Also Read: MSc Human Rights

Also Read: 1-Minute Speech on Human Rights for Students

What are Human Rights

Human rights mark everyone as free and equal, irrespective of age, gender, caste, creed, religion and nationality. The United Nations adopted human rights in light of the atrocities people faced during the Second World War. On the 10th of December 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Its adoption led to the recognition of human rights as the foundation for freedom, justice and peace for every individual. Although it’s not legally binding, most nations have incorporated these human rights into their constitutions and domestic legal frameworks. Human rights safeguard us from discrimination and guarantee that our most basic needs are protected.

Did you know that the 10th of December is celebrated as Human Rights Day ?

Before we move on to the essays on human rights, let’s check out the basics of what they are.

Human Rights

Also Read: What are Human Rights?

Also Read: 7 Impactful Human Rights Movies Everyone Must Watch!

Here is a 200-word short sample essay on basic Human Rights.

Human rights are a set of rights given to every human being regardless of their gender, caste, creed, religion, nation, location or economic status. These are said to be moral principles that illustrate certain standards of human behaviour. Protected by law , these rights are applicable everywhere and at any time. Basic human rights include the right to life, right to a fair trial, right to remedy by a competent tribunal, right to liberty and personal security, right to own property, right to education, right of peaceful assembly and association, right to marriage and family, right to nationality and freedom to change it, freedom of speech, freedom from discrimination, freedom from slavery, freedom of thought, conscience and religion, freedom of movement, right of opinion and information, right to adequate living standard and freedom from interference with privacy, family, home and correspondence.

Also Read: Law Courses

Check out this 500-word long essay on Human Rights.

Every person has dignity and value. One of the ways that we recognise the fundamental worth of every person is by acknowledging and respecting their human rights. Human rights are a set of principles concerned with equality and fairness. They recognise our freedom to make choices about our lives and develop our potential as human beings. They are about living a life free from fear, harassment or discrimination.

Human rights can broadly be defined as the basic rights that people worldwide have agreed are essential. These include the right to life, the right to a fair trial, freedom from torture and other cruel and inhuman treatment, freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to health, education and an adequate standard of living. These human rights are the same for all people everywhere – men and women, young and old, rich and poor, regardless of our background, where we live, what we think or believe. This basic property is what makes human rights’ universal’.

Human rights connect us all through a shared set of rights and responsibilities. People’s ability to enjoy their human rights depends on other people respecting those rights. This means that human rights involve responsibility and duties towards other people and the community. Individuals have a responsibility to ensure that they exercise their rights with consideration for the rights of others. For example, when someone uses their right to freedom of speech, they should do so without interfering with someone else’s right to privacy.

Governments have a particular responsibility to ensure that people can enjoy their rights. They must establish and maintain laws and services that enable people to enjoy a life in which their rights are respected and protected. For example, the right to education says that everyone is entitled to a good education. Therefore, governments must provide good quality education facilities and services to their people. If the government fails to respect or protect their basic human rights, people can take it into account.

Values of tolerance, equality and respect can help reduce friction within society. Putting human rights ideas into practice can help us create the kind of society we want to live in. There has been tremendous growth in how we think about and apply human rights ideas in recent decades. This growth has had many positive results – knowledge about human rights can empower individuals and offer solutions for specific problems.

Human rights are an important part of how people interact with others at all levels of society – in the family, the community, school, workplace, politics and international relations. Therefore, people everywhere must strive to understand what human rights are. When people better understand human rights, it is easier for them to promote justice and the well-being of society. 

Also Read: Important Articles in Indian Constitution

Here is a human rights essay focused on India.

All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. It has been rightly proclaimed in the American Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Created with certain unalienable rights….” Similarly, the Indian Constitution has ensured and enshrined Fundamental rights for all citizens irrespective of caste, creed, religion, colour, sex or nationality. These basic rights, commonly known as human rights, are recognised the world over as basic rights with which every individual is born.

In recognition of human rights, “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights was made on the 10th of December, 1948. This declaration is the basic instrument of human rights. Even though this declaration has no legal bindings and authority, it forms the basis of all laws on human rights. The necessity of formulating laws to protect human rights is now being felt all over the world. According to social thinkers, the issue of human rights became very important after World War II concluded. It is important for social stability both at the national and international levels. Wherever there is a breach of human rights, there is conflict at one level or the other.

Given the increasing importance of the subject, it becomes necessary that educational institutions recognise the subject of human rights as an independent discipline. The course contents and curriculum of the discipline of human rights may vary according to the nature and circumstances of a particular institution. Still, generally, it should include the rights of a child, rights of minorities, rights of the needy and the disabled, right to live, convention on women, trafficking of women and children for sexual exploitation etc.

Since the formation of the United Nations , the promotion and protection of human rights have been its main focus. The United Nations has created a wide range of mechanisms for monitoring human rights violations. The conventional mechanisms include treaties and organisations, U.N. special reporters, representatives and experts and working groups. Asian countries like China argue in favour of collective rights. According to Chinese thinkers, European countries lay stress upon individual rights and values while Asian countries esteem collective rights and obligations to the family and society as a whole.

With the freedom movement the world over after World War II, the end of colonisation also ended the policy of apartheid and thereby the most aggressive violation of human rights. With the spread of education, women are asserting their rights. Women’s movements play an important role in spreading the message of human rights. They are fighting for their rights and supporting the struggle for human rights of other weaker and deprived sections like bonded labour, child labour, landless labour, unemployed persons, Dalits and elderly people.

Unfortunately, violation of human rights continues in most parts of the world. Ethnic cleansing and genocide can still be seen in several parts of the world. Large sections of the world population are deprived of the necessities of life i.e. food, shelter and security of life. Right to minimum basic needs viz. Work, health care, education and shelter are denied to them. These deprivations amount to the negation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Also Read: Human Rights Courses

Check out this detailed 1500-word essay on human rights.

The human right to live and exist, the right to equality, including equality before the law, non-discrimination on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth, and equality of opportunity in matters of employment, the right to freedom of speech and expression, assembly, association, movement, residence, the right to practice any profession or occupation, the right against exploitation, prohibiting all forms of forced labour, child labour and trafficking in human beings, the right to freedom of conscience, practice and propagation of religion and the right to legal remedies for enforcement of the above are basic human rights. These rights and freedoms are the very foundations of democracy.

Obviously, in a democracy, the people enjoy the maximum number of freedoms and rights. Besides these are political rights, which include the right to contest an election and vote freely for a candidate of one’s choice. Human rights are a benchmark of a developed and civilised society. But rights cannot exist in a vacuum. They have their corresponding duties. Rights and duties are the two aspects of the same coin.

Liberty never means license. Rights presuppose the rule of law, where everyone in the society follows a code of conduct and behaviour for the good of all. It is the sense of duty and tolerance that gives meaning to rights. Rights have their basis in the ‘live and let live’ principle. For example, my right to speech and expression involves my duty to allow others to enjoy the same freedom of speech and expression. Rights and duties are inextricably interlinked and interdependent. A perfect balance is to be maintained between the two. Whenever there is an imbalance, there is chaos.

A sense of tolerance, propriety and adjustment is a must to enjoy rights and freedom. Human life sans basic freedom and rights is meaningless. Freedom is the most precious possession without which life would become intolerable, a mere abject and slavish existence. In this context, Milton’s famous and oft-quoted lines from his Paradise Lost come to mind: “To reign is worth ambition though in hell/Better to reign in hell, than serve in heaven.”

However, liberty cannot survive without its corresponding obligations and duties. An individual is a part of society in which he enjoys certain rights and freedom only because of the fulfilment of certain duties and obligations towards others. Thus, freedom is based on mutual respect’s rights. A fine balance must be maintained between the two, or there will be anarchy and bloodshed. Therefore, human rights can best be preserved and protected in a society steeped in morality, discipline and social order.

Violation of human rights is most common in totalitarian and despotic states. In the theocratic states, there is much persecution, and violation in the name of religion and the minorities suffer the most. Even in democracies, there is widespread violation and infringement of human rights and freedom. The women, children and the weaker sections of society are victims of these transgressions and violence.

The U.N. Commission on Human Rights’ main concern is to protect and promote human rights and freedom in the world’s nations. In its various sessions held from time to time in Geneva, it adopts various measures to encourage worldwide observations of these basic human rights and freedom. It calls on its member states to furnish information regarding measures that comply with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights whenever there is a complaint of a violation of these rights. In addition, it reviews human rights situations in various countries and initiates remedial measures when required.

The U.N. Commission was much concerned and dismayed at the apartheid being practised in South Africa till recently. The Secretary-General then declared, “The United Nations cannot tolerate apartheid. It is a legalised system of racial discrimination, violating the most basic human rights in South Africa. It contradicts the letter and spirit of the United Nations Charter. That is why over the last forty years, my predecessors and I have urged the Government of South Africa to dismantle it.”

Now, although apartheid is no longer practised in that country, other forms of apartheid are being blatantly practised worldwide. For example, sex apartheid is most rampant. Women are subject to abuse and exploitation. They are not treated equally and get less pay than their male counterparts for the same jobs. In employment, promotions, possession of property etc., they are most discriminated against. Similarly, the rights of children are not observed properly. They are forced to work hard in very dangerous situations, sexually assaulted and exploited, sold and bonded for labour.

The Commission found that religious persecution, torture, summary executions without judicial trials, intolerance, slavery-like practices, kidnapping, political disappearance, etc., are being practised even in the so-called advanced countries and societies. The continued acts of extreme violence, terrorism and extremism in various parts of the world like Pakistan, India, Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel, Somalia, Algeria, Lebanon, Chile, China, and Myanmar, etc., by the governments, terrorists, religious fundamentalists, and mafia outfits, etc., is a matter of grave concern for the entire human race.

Violation of freedom and rights by terrorist groups backed by states is one of the most difficult problems society faces. For example, Pakistan has been openly collaborating with various terrorist groups, indulging in extreme violence in India and other countries. In this regard the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva adopted a significant resolution, which was co-sponsored by India, focusing on gross violation of human rights perpetrated by state-backed terrorist groups.

The resolution expressed its solidarity with the victims of terrorism and proposed that a U.N. Fund for victims of terrorism be established soon. The Indian delegation recalled that according to the Vienna Declaration, terrorism is nothing but the destruction of human rights. It shows total disregard for the lives of innocent men, women and children. The delegation further argued that terrorism cannot be treated as a mere crime because it is systematic and widespread in its killing of civilians.

Violation of human rights, whether by states, terrorists, separatist groups, armed fundamentalists or extremists, is condemnable. Regardless of the motivation, such acts should be condemned categorically in all forms and manifestations, wherever and by whomever they are committed, as acts of aggression aimed at destroying human rights, fundamental freedom and democracy. The Indian delegation also underlined concerns about the growing connection between terrorist groups and the consequent commission of serious crimes. These include rape, torture, arson, looting, murder, kidnappings, blasts, and extortion, etc.

Violation of human rights and freedom gives rise to alienation, dissatisfaction, frustration and acts of terrorism. Governments run by ambitious and self-seeking people often use repressive measures and find violence and terror an effective means of control. However, state terrorism, violence, and human freedom transgressions are very dangerous strategies. This has been the background of all revolutions in the world. Whenever there is systematic and widespread state persecution and violation of human rights, rebellion and revolution have taken place. The French, American, Russian and Chinese Revolutions are glowing examples of human history.

The first war of India’s Independence in 1857 resulted from long and systematic oppression of the Indian masses. The rapidly increasing discontent, frustration and alienation with British rule gave rise to strong national feelings and demand for political privileges and rights. Ultimately the Indian people, under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, made the British leave India, setting the country free and independent.

Human rights and freedom ought to be preserved at all costs. Their curtailment degrades human life. The political needs of a country may reshape Human rights, but they should not be completely distorted. Tyranny, regimentation, etc., are inimical of humanity and should be resisted effectively and united. The sanctity of human values, freedom and rights must be preserved and protected. Human Rights Commissions should be established in all countries to take care of human freedom and rights. In cases of violation of human rights, affected individuals should be properly compensated, and it should be ensured that these do not take place in future.

These commissions can become effective instruments in percolating the sensitivity to human rights down to the lowest levels of governments and administrations. The formation of the National Human Rights Commission in October 1993 in India is commendable and should be followed by other countries.

Also Read: Law Courses in India

Human rights are of utmost importance to seek basic equality and human dignity. Human rights ensure that the basic needs of every human are met. They protect vulnerable groups from discrimination and abuse, allow people to stand up for themselves, and follow any religion without fear and give them the freedom to express their thoughts freely. In addition, they grant people access to basic education and equal work opportunities. Thus implementing these rights is crucial to ensure freedom, peace and safety.

Human Rights Day is annually celebrated on the 10th of December.

Human Rights Day is celebrated to commemorate the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UNGA in 1948.

Some of the common Human Rights are the right to life and liberty, freedom of opinion and expression, freedom from slavery and torture and the right to work and education.

We hope our sample essays on Human Rights have given you some great ideas. For more information on such interesting blogs, visit our essay writing page and follow Leverage Edu .

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Democracy, human rights and governance in The Gambia : essays on social adjustment

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  • Introduction : human rights and democracy in the Gambia : Is the Gambia a democratic state?
  • 1. Africa in a changing world : the major governance crisis in West Africa and the way forward
  • 2. Liberal democracy and governance in Africa : a brief critique
  • 3. Press freedom and democratic governance in the Gambia : a rights-based approach
  • 4. The judiciary in governance in the Gambia : the quest for autonomy in the second republic
  • 5. International human rights and the laws of nations : a brief analysis of the philosophical foundations, basic premises and historical background of human rights from the conventional and Islamic perspectives
  • 6. Law faculties, ethics and legal professionalism : a contemporary African perspective
  • 7. Harnessing traditional governance institutions to improve governance in West Africa
  • the case study of the Gambia
  • Conclusion : towards Arab-African integration in the struggle against western hegemony and imperialism : a critical perspective.

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Michael Glennon sits in a library

“The remedy for falsehoods is more speech, not enforced silence,” says Michael Glennon, professor of constitutional and international law at The Fletcher School. Photo: Pierre Chiha

An Argument for Free Speech, the “Lifeblood of Democracy”

A Fletcher professor makes the case against censorship in a provocative new book

Free speech is the heart of democracy. But who decides what speech should be free?

Michael Glennon , professor of constitutional and international law at The Fletcher School, has been troubled by a growing trend to censor speech, from college campuses to social media to the halls of government itself. In a provocative new book, Free Speech and Turbulent Freedom: The Dangerous Allure of Censorship in the Digital Era , he argues that such bans—while often well-meaning—are almost always counterproductive, creating more problems than they solve.

The book’s sweeping argument runs from 19th-century Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., who set the foundations of First Amendment law, all the way to the most recent social media controversies.

Glennon spoke with Tufts Now about the importance of free speech and why he believes a “marketplace of ideas” is the best antidote to tyranny.

In your introduction, you describe the change you’ve observed in students over the last few years when it comes to free speech. How did that inspire you to write this book?

Students’ attitudes toward free speech have changed dramatically. Nationwide, over half of college students believe that schools shouldn’t allow a speaker on campus who has previously expressed ideas they intensely dislike, and over 30 percent believe it’s acceptable to drown out speakers to prevent them from speaking.

Many of these students think that suppressing free speech is somehow necessary to preserve democracy. I wrote the book to suggest that this view is profoundly and dangerously mistaken.

Freedom of speech is the lifeblood of democracy. They both rest on the same premise: that people are able to sort out for themselves what’s true and what’s false, and that it’s for individuals, not the government, to judge what’s in their own best interests.

“Censorship inevitably backfires... Censorship alienates the public, generates distrust, fosters social division, and sparks political instability.” Michael Glennon Share on Twitter

You devote the first part of the book to Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. and his journey into skepticism about universal morality. To whom is that relevant today?

Many of today’s students have a keen thirst for social justice, which I admire. When Holmes was their age, he shared that thirst, dropping out of college to enlist in the Union Army in a war against slavery, in which he was nearly killed several times.

He became very skeptical of people who believe they have unique access to universal, absolute truth, who view their adversaries as evil incarnate. That, he believed, leads ultimately to violence.

All of us today need to approach public debate with a bit of humility, recognizing that none of us is infallible and that rigid moral certitude leads down a dangerous path.

You argue that government censorship is wrong and even counterproductive. What are some of the reasons?

We know from centuries of experience, in many countries, that censorship inevitably backfires. It discredits the censors, who are seen as patronizing elites. It demeans listeners who are told they can’t handle the truth. It makes martyrs and heroes out of the censored and drives their speech underground where it’s harder to rebut.

Suffragettes, civil rights leaders, and LGBTQ+ activists all have relied on free speech to get their messages out. Censorship alienates the public, generates distrust, fosters social division, and sparks political instability.

It’s not that some speech isn’t harmful—it’s that trying to suppress it causes greater harm.

Many people would probably be surprised to learn that hate speech such as marching with Nazi paraphernalia or burning a cross at a demonstration deriding Black and Jewish people is protected under the First Amendment. Why is it protected?

Not all hateful speech is protected. Incitement to violence, fighting words, defamation, and true threats are all often hateful yet that speech is not protected. But other hateful speech is protected, for several reasons.

Hatred is a viewpoint. It’s for the individual to think and feel as he or she wishes; it’s only when the individual crosses the line between thought and action to incite violence or defame or threaten someone that the state can intervene.

Hate speech laws are also invariably vague and overbroad, leading to arbitrary and abusive enforcement. In the real world, speech rarely gets punished because it hurts dominant majorities. It gets punished because it hurts disadvantaged minorities.

Many Americans feel it is OK to ban clearly false information online, but you argue that would be a bad idea. Why?

The ultimate problem with banning falsehoods is that to do so you’d need an official Ministry of Truth, which could come up with an endless list of officially banned falsehoods. Not only would that list inevitably be self-serving, but it could be wrong.

Even when it comes to clear falsehoods, there are reasons to leave them up. [Former President Donald] Trump claimed, for example, that the size of the crowd at his inauguration was larger than [former President Barack] Obama’s, which was indisputably false. But the statement had the effect of calling into question not only Trump’s veracity but also his mental soundness, which is important for voters to assess.

You say after Trump’s participation in the January 6 uprising, social media platforms banned him for the wrong reasons. What do you mean?

They were wrong to apply a norm of international human rights law in banning him—a supposed prohibition against “glorifying violence.” That’s a vague, overly broad standard that can pick up everything from praising Medal of Honor winners to producing Top Gun .

We’re dealing here with an American president speaking from the White House to the American people, so I say the proper standard should have been the U.S. First Amendment and whether Trump intended to incite imminent violence and whether that violence was likely. Under that test, I think it’s a close case.

What was wrong with the way the government tried to curb “misinformation” about COVID-19?

Justice Louis Brandeis [who served on the Supreme Court from 1916 to 1939] said that the fitting remedy for evil counsels is good ones.

If someone counsels drinking bleach to cure COVID, the remedy is not to suppress it—it’s to point out why that’s wrong. But over and over, the government’s remedy for speech it didn’t like was to strongarm social media platforms to take it down.

The government wouldn’t have lost so much credibility if it had only said, “This is our best guess based on available evidence.” Instead, it spoke ex cathedra on masks, lockdowns, school closings, vaccine efficacy, infection rates, myocarditis, social distancing, you name it—claims that often turned out to be untenable—and then it bullied the platforms to censor prominent experts who took issue with its misinformation.

Many commentators are worried about disinformation and AI-generated “deep fakes” affecting the outcome of the 2024 election. What’s the best remedy for that?

The remedy for falsehoods is more speech, not enforced silence. If someone thinks a social media post contains altered imagery or audio, the initial solution is simply to say that and let the marketplace of ideas sort it out.  

Obviously counter-speech isn’t always the answer: You still run into eleventh-hour deep fakes that there’s no time to rebut. People do have privacy rights and interference with elections undercuts democracy.

The trick is to write legislation that catches malign fakery but doesn’t also pick up satire and humor that is obviously bogus. That’s not easy. Well-intended but sloppy laws often trigger serious unintended consequences.

Michael Glennon in his office in 2014

Shadow Government

illustration of a woman bombarded by negative speech bubbles

The High Cost of Online Attacks Against Women

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What to Know About Indonesia’s Election

More than 100 million people are expected to vote. The country is a vibrant democracy, but some fear it risks sliding back toward a dark past.

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A woman holds a clipboard in a room full of identical white boxes, wrapped in plastic.

By Sui-Lee Wee

Reporting from Jakarta, Indonesia

The numbers are staggering.

More than 100 million people are expected to vote, many for the first time. They’ll do so in booths across thousands of islands and three time zones, hammering nails into ballots to mark their choices. And within hours, if history is any guide, the world will know the outcome of the biggest race of the day: the one for Indonesia’s presidency.

Indonesia, the world’s third-largest democracy, will hold its general election on Wednesday. Election Day is a national holiday, and on average, about 75 percent of eligible voters have turned out. In addition to the president, voters are choosing members of Parliament and local representatives.

This election season has raised fears that Indonesia, which was an authoritarian state not long ago, is in danger of sliding back toward its dark past. The potential ramifications extend far beyond the country’s borders. As one of the world’s biggest exporters of coal, nickel and palm oil, Indonesia has a large role to play in the climate change crisis.

And in the contest between the United States and China for influence in Asia, Indonesia is seen by U.S. officials as a “swing state.” Under President Joko Widodo, ties with China have deepened significantly, but he has also maintained strong defense relations with Washington.

Here’s what you need to know.

What is at stake?

The election is widely seen as a referendum on the legacy of Mr. Joko, who is stepping down after two five-year terms.

Often referred to as Jokowi, he remains extremely popular because he has transformed Indonesia into one of Southeast Asia’s biggest economic success stories. He ushered in a universal health care system, built more than 1,000 miles of roads and highways, and oversaw respectable economic growth of about 5 percent a year.

His supporters say his job is unfinished and that there are pressing issues, such as inequality and poverty, that still need to be addressed. Critics say democratic norms have eroded under Mr. Joko’s time in power and that he is now maneuvering to extend his influence even after he leaves office .

Mr. Joko appears to be backing Prabowo Subianto, a onetime rival who has been accused of human rights abuses, to become his successor, alarming even some of his supporters. The outcome of the election could determine the future of democracy in Indonesia, which has the world’s biggest Muslim population.

Who’s running for president?

For the first time in 15 years, voters will get to pick from three presidential candidates: Mr. Prabowo, the current defense minister; Anies Baswedan, the former governor of Jakarta; and Ganjar Pranowo, who ran Central Java.

Mr. Prabowo has touted himself as the continuity candidate, saying this month that Mr. Joko’s policies had been “very, very beneficial for all of the people.” But he is a polarizing choice.

To many Indonesians, Mr. Prabowo is associated with the dictator Suharto , who ruled with an iron fist over the country from the mid-1960s to the late 1990s. Mr. Prabowo was married to one of Suharto’s daughters and served as a general in his military, which was notorious for human rights violations. In 1998, Mr. Prabowo was discharged from the army for ordering the kidnappings of student activists.

But Mr. Prabowo has shored up support thanks to an image makeover and the implicit backing of Mr. Joko. Surveys show Mr. Prabowo with a wide lead in the polls, but it is less clear whether he will win enough votes across a broad base of provinces to land the presidency without having to go through a runoff election in June.

A large number of swing voters, by one count around 13 percent of the electorate, make the result hard to predict.

Mr. Ganjar of Central Java — the candidate fielded by Mr. Joko’s political party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle — has also promised to continue most of Mr. Joko’s policies, albeit with tweaks. He has been described as “Jokowi lite.” But analysts say he has struggled to define his message, and polls show his support topping off at around 20 percent.

Mr. Anies, the former Jakarta governor, is highly regarded in the capital for improving public transportation and managing the coronavirus pandemic, but his previous ties to radical Islamist preachers have raised concerns.

In recent weeks, though, Mr. Anies has drawn support from Gen Z voters and educated urbanites on a message of change, with some surveys showing he is slightly ahead of Mr. Ganjar. He has argued that a plan pushed by Mr. Joko to move the capital to another island would not lead to equitable development, and he has warned about the return of nepotism.

Why is the youth vote so important this time?

People under 40 account for more than half of all eligible voters, making them the biggest bloc in this election. Surveys have found that younger voters are concerned about the economy, education, employment and corruption.

To reach this cohort, the presidential hopefuls have turned to social media. Mr. Prabowo, the former general, has tried to rebrand himself as a gemoy, or cute, grandfather. TikTok has been flooded with videos of him dancing at rallies. This strategy has endeared him to some voters.

Many young people are unaware of the problematic aspects of Mr. Prabowo’s past, such as his role in the kidnapping of activists, because the history of Suharto-era human rights violations is not taught in schools.

Independent groups that run websites like “Bijak Memilih,” or Choose Wisely, are working to help younger voters by providing news and information. One reason they are doing so is some young voters have expressed skepticism about the independence of the country’s media outlets.

Mr. Anies is also using social media to drum up support, turning to an unlikely bloc: Indonesian K-pop fans. Many such supporters say they were taken by Mr. Anies after he emerged from a debate and did a TikTok livestream with his supporters, where, like a K-pop star, he answered questions about his love life and his favorite books.

What sets this election apart from others?

It is one of the world’s most complex single-day elections. About 205 million people are registered to vote in this sprawling archipelago of about 17,000 islands, roughly 7,000 of which are inhabited.

Six million election officials have begun fanning out across the country to ensure that as many people as possible get a chance to vote. Logistics are a headache in some places — requiring officials to travel on horseback or take boats or helicopters and trek for hours to deliver ballots to voters.

“It is a massive, colossal task,” said Yulianto Sudrajat, a member of Indonesia’s General Election Commission who is in charge of logistics.

Voters will mark their ballots by hammering nails into them, which election officials say is a fairer method than using a pen, since some Indonesians are unfamiliar with writing instruments. As the votes are counted, election officials hold the ballots up so people can see light shining through the holes.

In 2019, the process took such a toll that 894 election workers died, prompting the government to urge volunteers this time to undergo health screenings.

Although the official vote count takes weeks to confirm, the results are generally known by the end of the day, based on so-called quick counts, a kind of exit poll. After polling stations close at 1 p.m. Jakarta time, independent pollsters will tally ballots from a sampling of voting stations nationwide.

In previous elections, the quick counts — released by 5 p.m. — have accurately reflected the real results.

Rin Hindryati and Hasya Nindita contributed reporting.

Sui-Lee Wee is the Southeast Asia bureau chief for The Times, overseeing coverage of 11 countries in the region. More about Sui-Lee Wee

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