Religion and the Global Politics of Human Rights

Are human rights universal or the product of specific cultures? Is democracy a necessary condition for the achievement of human rights in practice? And when, if ever, is it legitimate for external actors to impose their understandings of human rights upon particular countries? In the contemporary context of globalization, these questions have a salient religious dimension. Religion intersects with global human rights agendas in multiple ways, including: whether ''universal'' human rights are in fact an imposition of Christian understandings; whether democracy, the ''rule of the people,'' is compatible with God's law; and whether international efforts to enforce human rights including religious freedom amount to an illicit imperialism. This book brings together leading specialists across disciplines for the first major survey of the religious politics of human rights across the world's major regions, political systems, and faith traditions. The authors take a bottom-up approach and focus particularly on hot-button issues like human rights in Islam, Falun Gong in China, and religion in the former Soviet Union. Each essay examines the interaction of human rights and religion in practice and the challenges they pose for national and international policymakers.

1. IntroductionThomas Banchoff and Robert Wuthnow2. The International Human Rights RegimeThomas BanchoffPART I : ISLAM AND THE GLOBAL POLITICS OF HUMAN RIGHTS3. Human Rights and Democracy in Islam: The Indonesian Case in Global PerspectiveRobert W. Hefner4. Muslims, Human Rights, and Women's RightsYvonne Yazbeck HaddadPART II : THREE REGIONS: LATIN AMERICA, SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA, AND SOUTHEAST ASIA5. Religious Pluralism, Democracy, and Human Rights inLatin AmericaPaul Freston6. Gender Justice and Religion in Sub-Saharan AfricaRogaia Mustafa Abusharaf7. Buddhism, Human Rights, and Non-Buddhist MinoritiesCharles KeyesPART III : FOUR KEY COUNTRIES: INDIA, CHINA, RUSSIA, AND THE UNITED STATES8. Hinduism and the Politics of Rights in IndiaPratap Bhanu Mehta9. Religion, State Power, and Human Rights in ChinaDavid Ownby10. Religious Communities and Rights in the Russian FederationMarjorie Mandelstam Balzer11. Human Rights, the Catholic Church, and the Death Penalty in the United StatesThomas Banchoff