Abstract
It is noteworthy that this intriguing volume is edited by two justice studies professors. For both Udogu and Ghatak, the fields of comparative politics and international relations served as pathways to justice studies. The question of justice—for indigenous peoples and other minority populations living in the Global South—figures prominently in the editors’ engaged research. Lamenting that “[indigenous peoples and other minority populations] are often powerless in the struggle for their human rights,” the editors propose “to galvanize human rights campaigners, political actors, and lawmakers into action to fight for the protection of the human rights of those in the periphery—whose lives and lifestyles are frequently in danger” (p. xviii). Therefore, it is incumbent upon researchers and activists not only to make excluded populations aware of their human rights but also to assist them in the quest to have these rights brought to fruition through policy making and institution building (xix). In chapter 1, Davila-Villers presents a version of this normative argument, applicable to the social context of Latin America (pp. 24, 25). The same regulative ideal operates in chapter 2 on contemporary India (Ghatak and Udogu), Chapter 3 on Africa (Udogu), Chapter 4 on Indonesia and Malaysia (Ghatak), and Chapter 5 on India from 1985 to 2013 (Ghatak and Udogu). In chapter 6, Thompson echoes this argument in analyzing the environmental rights (e.g., clean air, clean water, arable land, and healthy forests) of indigenous peoples and other minority populations (pp. 167-70).
Fittingly, the book emphasizes three justice-oriented touchstones. The first touchstone is Kant’s categorical imperative to “always treat others not as means to further ends, but rather as ends in themselves.” Building on the categorical imperative, Udogu and Ghatak argue not only for the recognition of human dignity but also for a form of universalism that affirms cultural diversity (p. xx). The second touchstone is the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, reproduced in its entirety as Appendix A (pp. 179-86). The third touchstone is the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities, reproduced in its entirety as Appendix B (pp. 187-90). In citing these declarations, the editors intend: to highlight and to showcase the difficulties confronted by marginalized collectivities in all regions of the world—but more aptly in the developing nations. Indigenous peoples whose land was confiscated first by European colonial powers and later by dominant ethnic groupings, that inherited power from the departed colonial overseers, have suffered from victimization and their human dignity/rights denied them. (P. xx)
Shorn of Eurocentric conceptions of “Western primacy,” human rights are defined as the civil and political, economic and social, cultural, and environmental entitlements of all human beings—without regard for identity characteristics, social status, or geographic location. The authors conceptualize human rights as social constructions that have unfolded unevenly and incompletely across historical time and geographic space, finding different articulations in various political structures and cultural contexts. For example, the cases of Indonesia and Malaysia (Chapter 4) are instructive. In ratifying the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Indonesian government provided activists with universal reference points. In contrast, in refraining from ratifying such human rights instruments, the Malaysian government appealed to “Asian values” (including the rights of families and communities) but did not provide much protection to ethnic and religious minority communities.
While the book hinges on the conventional distinction between “developed” and “developing” counties, it does not presuppose teleology or a linear conception of human history. Instead, development is defined as active intervention to improve living conditions, well-being, health, and education in the countries of the Global South. Thus, development is achieved through increased funding for and technological advancement in farming, medicine, and infrastructure. It is clear that indigenous peoples and other minority populations have benefited less than dominant populations from development programs. This brings us to the authors’ thesis: indigenous and minority rights—including the linguistic rights that enable participation in decision-making—must appear front and center in any development project. This thesis constitutes an important addendum to the human right to development.
How did we get here? Notwithstanding its apparent novelty, the human right to development was given voice first in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and later in the Declaration on the Right to Development. The emerging human right to development implied a type of scientific and technological intervention that would permit not only inclusive decision-making but also increased sensitivity to gender, culture, and environmental sustainability. For three decades, the human right to development has been explored primarily under the auspices of critical development studies—an interdisciplinary field that draws on postcolonial theory, subaltern studies, world systems analysis, neo-Marxism, feminist political economy, green political economy, and other critical theoretical tendencies in challenging mainstream developmentalism. More recently, the human right to development has been taken up by human rights scholars focusing on the Global South. This volume speaks both to critical development studies and to the social scientific analysis of human rights norms, laws, policies, institutions, and practices.
The book is written in a manner that makes it rewarding to scholars, United Nations officials, nongovernmental organization staff, and grassroots activists. With its focus on the convergence of human rights and development, the book holds considerable appeal for readers of Humanity and Society.