Human Rights and Public Goods

This powerful and empowering text offers a way forward for alleviating human suffering, presenting a realistic roadmap for enhanced global governance that can create workable solutions to mass poverty. William Felice and Diana Fuguitt emphasize the critical links between international human rights law, international political economy, and global organizations to formulate effective public policy to alleviate human suffering and protect basic human rights for all. They introduce students to the key legal and economic concepts central to economic and social human rights, including the right to education, a healthy environment, food, basic health care, housing, and clean water. They analyze the legal approaches undertaken by the United Nations and explain the key theories of international political economy (including liberalism, nationalism, and structuralism) and central economic concepts (including global public goods, economic equality, and the capabilities approach).

In the last decade, a backlash against economic globalization has been fueled by a variety of politicians around the world. A resurgent nationalism is often pitted against international organizations and frameworks for global cooperation. In this new edition, Felice and Fuguitt account for how the current global political climate has affected national and global policies for the provision of public goods and the protection of human rights. They focus on practical policies and actions that both state and nonstate actors can take to uphold economic and social rights. As the first book to integrate these legal and economic approaches, it provides a practical path to action for students, academics, and policy makers alike.