Globalization's impact on human rights practices in contemporary society

Human Rights

The contemporaneous society evolves at a rapid pace, forcing as such groups and individuals to adapt along. The fact that we need to implement changes ourselves to survive in the dynamic environment is already an indisputable fact. The nature of the implemented changes on the other hand is an issue worth analyzing. In other words, are the modifications in the individual's micro and macro environments for his benefit or in his detriment? By extrapolating these features then, one could identify the matter of human rights in the changing context of a globalizing earth. Otherwise put, does globalization have a positive or a negative aspect upon the practices of human rights?

Globalization is an unstoppable force affecting all features of the every day life. And it does not only mean that we can have a Big Mac while visiting Shanghai, but also that features of the political, economic and even social backgrounds are likely to change. A most relevant example in this sense is the mutating importance of human rights in the global context. The matter has been subjected to numerous debates along the past recent decades, but a clear conclusion accepted by a majority has yet to be formulated. The present briefing report aims to shad some light into the approaches taken relative to the effects of globalization. To achieve this, the problem discussed must be clearly identified. Then, the background of the issue must be succinctly presented. A more detailed analysis of the issues would follow, to finally round up with the conclusions drawn and the proposed recommendations.

3. Problem Definition

One of the most stringent issues of the twenty-first century has been the emergence of globalization operations. The buzzword actually refers to a series of modifications which occurred in the way business, economic, political, cultural, social, technological and even environmental actions are being handled. "Globalization reflects the 'stretching' of social, political and economic activities and practices across national frontiers with the consequence that events, decisions and actions in one continent impact upon communities and nations a continent away" (Evans, 1998). Globalization has often been assimilated with Americanization (Beck, Sznaider and Winter, 2004), or the processes implemented by the American corporations to territorially expand to other regions of the globe. But the United States have not only 'exported' their products, but also their way of being, their social behaviors and reactions.

Then, the other specification that must be made is the paper's relevance in the field of human rights. Recent studies seem to mix globalization with the treatment of society members. Therefore, the question that the briefing paper will try to answer relates to the impact globalization has upon the practice of human rights.

5. Analysis of Issue

Whereas some sources indicate that the effects of globalization upon human rights depend on all political, economic, social, cultural, historical and technological backgrounds, others state that the final impact does not depend on any civil or political features within the country, but solely on its economic characteristics. Spar (1998) for instance forwards the type of production within the country and the features of the customer base as the main determinants of an impact upon human rights. Li and Reuveny (2000) then state that the economic forces are not even important, and that an impact upon the civil and human rights will be observable without any economic changes. In this instance, they argue that globalizing forces in the political, technological or social backgrounds are sufficient to trigger some modifications upon the national human rights regulations. Michael Goodhart analyzes the matter from a more political standpoint, assimilating the globalizing human rights with democracy, and stating that an internationalization of the civil rights is only possible in the context of an internationalized democratic context. "Democracy as human rights defines a political commitment to universal emancipation through securing the equal enjoyment of fundamental human rights for everyone" (Goodhart, 2005).

The matter of human rights in the context of a globalizing earth can be looked at from numerous standpoints, such as the breaking of the regulations across the globe or the international responses to the violations. Alison Brysk for instance points out that despite the globalizing trend in human rights, several violations still go on without attracting much interest from the global communities. The briefing paper however has a different and simpler purpose -- that of stating whether globalization has a beneficial or negative impact upon human rights.

The author of Globalization and Human Rights points out that the actual effect of globalization upon a country is given by the state's personal characteristics. In other terms, the degree and way in which globalization will affect the human rights within a country depend directly on the country's economic and political strength. Take for instance the countries in Latin America, Southeastern Asia or Russia, where the democratizing processes are relatively new, the state institutions are weak and the economic and political powers are "elite-controlled." These countries will respond to globalization by an even higher destabilization of the political, economic and social aspects of life, revealing higher levels of corruption, police abuse and crime rates (Brysk, 2002).

The highly developed countries, on the other hand, stand increased chances of embracing globalization as a positive force. In this instance, the effects that are likely to occur refer to a better protection of the individual, both native born and immigrant. Also, with the aid of the globalized technologies, the law representatives become better able to guard the citizens' safety and security (Crossette, 2000). Foremost, the globalizing technologies and social practices helped the individuals in less developed countries gain better access to information and get to know their rights better.

Dunne and Wheeler tend however to disagree with the beneficial effect of globalization upon the human rights, stating that, as a generally observed trend, globalization seems to negatively impact the strength of the globalized country. "Globalization is weakening state structures, especially in relation to their capacity to promote global public goods, their traditional function of enhancing the quality of life within the boundaries of the state, and their most recent role of assisting and protecting the vulnerable within their borders" (Dunne and Wheeler, 2002). This vision is somewhat shared by Michael Goodhart, who points out that however beneficial effects do exists, it is more likely that globalization will first reveal its negative implications. "Globalization deprives the people of many key decisions through ongoing shifts of legal, regulatory, and governance authority to "international governance organizations," and through corporations' growing ability to elude government control and regulation. The communitarian argument that such weakening should be resisted insofar as possible and that the rights of communities to collectively decide their futures be restored is, according to the author, unfeasible on empirical grounds" (Gandois, 2006).

Globalization, on its own this time, has often been accused of widening the income gap between the rich and the poor of the same country. By extrapolating this feature to the human rights, it can be said that globalization increased the human rights offered to the rich and decreased those offered to the poor. In other words, the power and the wealth could easily fall in the hand of the few privileged ones, and their rights would be better served, than those of the marginalized, powerless and poor population (Paribatra, 1999).

6. Conclusions and Recommendations

The section on the analysis of the issues at hand commenced stating that the purpose of the briefing paper was a simple one: identifying the positive or negative nature of the effects generated by globalization upon human rights. The above lines however revealed that it is quite difficult to make such a decision. Surely, some are declared advocates of the positive or negative impacts, but a critical eye must recognize both types of consequences. In all, it is quite difficult to state for sure that globalization has positively or negatively impacted human rights, namely because it has had generated both types of effects. "To argue whether globalization as a process is good or bad is as irrelevant as arguing whether the transition from an agrarian to an industrial society in the western world from the eighteenth to the twentieth century was good or bad. Many social changes occurred: some economies were strengthened, some were weakened. Some states rose, some fell. Some social classes and categories benefited, others sank into oblivion" (Howard-Hassmann, 2005). David Forsythe is yet another academician agreeing with the dual effects of globalization upon human rights. He says that "human rights in modern international relations represent both the best of times and the worst of times" (Forsythe, 2006). The briefing paper presents conflicting standpoints and does not take one side or the other, with the ultimate purpose of allowing the readers to look at the matter with a critical eye and form an unbiased opinion.

The matter of the effects globalization has upon the human rights is a highly complex one, which can be analyzed from different perspectives. A primary recommendation then would incline towards an alignment of the criteria considered in the studies, so that the results are conclusive. Then, in terms of the actual problem discussed, the state authorities should take an increased interest in the matters as the favorable mixture of globalization and human rights is only possible with the aid and support of committed governments. Then, it is also recommendable that the authorities regulate the international field of human rights, mostly when some of them are poorly enforced, and some of them are outdated. A third recommendation comes from the need to empower and improve the judicial system. This is currently weak in some regions of the globe, still manifesting high levels of corruption. The proper implementation and development of human right laws is not possible without the existence and support of a strong judicial system. An increased awareness amongst individuals is also a key to reducing violations of human rights; this then reveals the necessity to implement educational programs that teach the population of the rights and also stimulate them to take action whenever they notice violations. The educational campaign should begin in schools and should also be made available to the public through several media campaigns. In this instance then, it becomes obvious that the media has to be more responsible in treating cases of human rights. The final recommendation is for all the measures to be taken to be integrated within the society in the meaning that they must clearly address the stringent matters and they must attract the interest of the entire population (Paribatra, 1999).

References:

Beck, U., Sznaider, N., Winter, R., 2004, Global America? (Studies in Social and Political Thought Series): The Cultural Consequences of Globalization, Volume 8, Liverpool University Press

Brysk, a., 2002, Globalization and Human Rights, University of California Press

Brysk, a., Shafir, G., 2004, People Out of Place: Globalization, Human Rights and the Citizenship Gap, Routledge

Coicaud, J.M., Doyle, M.W., Gardner, a.M., 2003, the Globalization of Human Rights, United Nations University Press

Crossette, B., 2000, Making Room for the Poor in a Global Economy, New York Times, Edition of April 16

Dunne, T., Wheeler, N.J., 2002, Human Rights in Global Politics, Cambridge University Press

Evans, T., 1998, Human Rights Fifty Years on: A Reappraisal, Manchester University Press

Forsythe, D.P., 2006, Human Rights in International Relations, 2nd Edition, Cambridge University Press

Gandois, H., 2006, Democracy as Human Rights: Freedom and Equality in the Age of Globalization, Ethics and International Affairs, Volume 20

Goodhart, M., 2005, Democracy as Human Rights: Freedom and Equality in the Age of Globalization, Routledge

Howard-Hassmann, R.E., 2005, the Second Great Transformation: Human Rights Leapfrogging in the Era of Globalization, Human Rights Quarterly, Number 27 per 2005

Lerner, D., 1958, the Passing of Traditional Society: Modernizing the Middle East, Free Press

Li, Q., Reuveny, R., 2000, Does Economic Globalization Hinder or Promote Democracy?, Annual Meeting of the International Studies Association, Los Angeles, held between the 14th and 18th of March

Paribatra, S., 1999, Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, Presidents and Prime Ministers, Volume 8

Spar, D.L., 1998, the Spotlight on the Bottom Line: How Multinationals Exports Human Rights (Child Labor and Sweatshops Abuses by Foreign Contractors of American Corporations), Foreign Affairs, Volume 77, Number 2, pp. 7-12