B5276 - Human Rights and Globalization

Learning outcomes

The course aims to provide the historical and conceptual coordinates necessary to understand how the Western history of human rights has intersected with that of globalization, and how it has contributed to reshaping both domestic and international political debate and practice.

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
a) critically analyze the main doctrinal perspectives on human rights and correctly contextualize them; b) understand the connections between doctrinal developments and the European and global political-institutional and constitutional history; c) grasp the reasons behind, and the main themes of, the wide-ranging critical debate that has accompanied the Western history of human rights since its inception—highlighting its discriminatory, paternalistic, and exclusionary outcomes—with particular attention to the critiques concerning the weakness of human rights in addressing many of the political and economic dynamics triggered by globalization.

Course contents

The course aims to critically analyze the political implications of globalization and, in particular, the ways in which this complex phenomenon has led to the rearticulation of the language and practices of human rights.

Starting from an analysis of the main interpretations of the political outcomes of globalization, the first part of the course will be dedicated to a critical examination of the effects that globalization processes have had on the use and the changing content of human rights, as well as of some key concepts of Western political thought (such as, for example, the State, sovereignty, citizenship, security, identity, and equality). The course will also address how globalization has reshaped the interrelations among these concepts and reconfigured the political practices associated with them. Particular attention will be paid to the impact globalization has had on conceptions of political space and time, as well as to the recent debate on the so-called “end of globalization.”

The second part of the course will focus on a critical examination of the main traditional and contemporary critical perspectives on human rights, with particular attention to those that highlight their depoliticizing effects and technocratic application.

Readings/Bibliography

Students who attend classes

The bibliography for students who attend classes is composed of the books, chapters and essays listed under letter A and B.

The materials listed under letter B, which could be slightly amended or supplemented with additional references depending on the size of the class and thus on the discussion methods that will be adopted (see Teaching methods section), will be the object of class discussions, will be provided by the instructor at the beginning of the class and made available on Virtuale.

The specific sections within the materials under letter A and B to be prepared for class discussions and the final exam will be indicated at the beginning of the class.

A. First part

1. D. Zolo, Globalizzazione. Una mappa dei problemi, Laterza, 2006.

2. D. Held and A. McGrew (ed. By), The Global Transformations Reader. An Introduction to the Globalizatio Debate, Polity, 2004 (selected chapters).

B. Second part

1. T. Evans, The Politics of Human Rights. A global perspective, 2ndedition, Pluto Press, 2005.

2. S. Benhabib, The Rights of Others. Aliens, Residents, and Citizens, Cambridge University Press, 2004.

3. M. Langford, Critiques of Human Rights, Annu. Rev. Law Soc. Sci. 14, 2018, pp. 69–89.

4. C. Crouch, Postdemocrazia, Laterza, Roma-Bari, 2005.

5. P. P. Portinaro, LA DEMOCRAZIA ALLA PROVA DELLA GLOBALIZZAZIONE. TRAMONTO O TRASFORMAZIONE?, Archivio di Filosofia , 2013, Vol. 81, No. 3, ETICA PUBBLICA E DEMOCRAZIA (2013), pp. 53-64.

6. V. Marzocco, Insicuri e liberi. Vulnerabilità e resilienza nel lessico giuridico-politico del neo-liberismo, in M. G. Bernardini et al. (a cura di), Vulnerabilità: etica, politica, diritto, if Press, 2018, pp. 295-314.

7. M. Duffield, ‘How Did We Become Unprepared? Emergency and Resilience in an Uncertain World’, British Academy Review, 21, 2013, pp. 55–58.

8. S. Žižek, Diritti umani per Odradek?, Nottetempo, Roma 2005.

Students who do not attend classes

The bibliography for students who do not attend classes is the same as that to be prepared by those who do and it will be illustrated in details in the Syllabus made available on Virtuale. Students are kindly invited to contact the instructor in due time and at least once before the exam to receive instructions on the study of the bibliography.

Teaching methods

The course will be articulated into both lectures and class discussions.

Lectures will include readings of texts, seminars by external experts, projection of materials and documentaries.

The methodology adopted for class discussions (group discussion, whole class discussion, presentations, Q&A) will be defined at the beginning of the course taking into consideration the size of the class. Students are required to carefully read the assigned material before class discussions and to actively take part in them.

The aim of the teaching methodology adopted by the course is to activate the informed critical discussion of topics among students and to facilitate the interaction and exchange between the instructor and the students.

Assessment methods

Students who have attended classes

The assessment of the acquisition of expected knowledge and abilities by the attending students is based on the following two components: 1. Final written examand 2. (Optional) oral exam

The final written exam is a two-hour test that consists of 5/6 open questions on the bibliography and the topics discussed in class aimed at assessing the acquisition of the expected knowledge as well as of methodological and critical skills.

Students who miss or fail the written exam will undergo an oral exam on the entire syllabus after the end of the class.

The oral exam will take place after the end of the class and will consist of four/five questions aimed at assessing the level of knowledge of the bibliography and of the topics addressed by the course, as well as the students' ability to critically analyse and verbally articulate them.

The final evaluation will be the score of written exam and/or of the possible oral exam.

Students who have not attended classes

Students who have not attended class will undergo an oral exam.

The oral exam will consist of four/five questions aimed at assessing the students' level of knowledge of the bibliography and of the topics addressed by the course, as well as their ability to critically analyse and verbally articulate them.

The evaluation criteria are the following:

• Minimum analytical skills → 18-19;
• Good analytical skills → 20-24;
• Very good analytical skills → 25-29;
• Excellent analytical skills → 30-30 L

Teaching tools

Lectures and class discussions will be held with the support of audio-visual tools (ppt, web, short documentaries).

Students with learning disorders and/or temporary or permanent disabilities are kindly required to timely contact the administrative staff in charge (https://site.unibo.it/studenti-con-disabilita-e-dsa/en/for-students ). The staff will define possible adaptations that students can propose (at the latest 15 days before the exam) for the instructor’s approval in the context of the course’s teaching objectives.

Office hours

See the website of Annalisa Furia