A Human Security Peace-Building Agenda

International peace building in post-conflict societies has helped to bring armed conflicts to an end and reduced the recurrence of war. According to some scholars, peace building has therefore contributed to the apparent downward trend of major intra-state conflict in recent years. However, the liberal institutionalist values which underpin international peace building—emphasising democracy, free market economics and the liberal state—have raised a range of criticisms and challenges from scholars as well as local stakeholders in the societies in which peace-building programmes are deployed. In particular, the prevailing approaches to peace-building give insufficient attention to basic and everyday human needs, and promote externally conceived models of state institutions which are not always appropriate. This article explores the problems of contemporary peace building and argues that an alternative vision which draws upon the concept of human security and gives greater emphasis to welfare, livelihoods and local engagement can make peace building more legitimate and sustainable.     

The State and Human Rights: Governance and Sustainable Human Development in Yemen

International Relations theory has had difficulty explaining the global spread of human rights norms, and in particular the spread of human rights norms in the non-Western world. An exploration of Yemen's integration of human rights-based approaches to economic development into its policymaking gives the empirical foundation to examine the interplay of both norms and self-interest and external and internal pressures in framing such policies. In the case of Yemen, at least, each of these contrasting pairs is to a large degree mutually constituted. Conceptualizing norms and self-interest and external and internal pressures as mutually constitutive differs from the usual contrasts painted between these pairs in international relations theory, but is an important step in moving beyond an impasse among realist, liberal, and constructivist theories and toward a usefully integrative approach.     

The Struggle for Human Rights in Africa

This article seeks to explore the recent changes that have occurred in Africa’s human rights landscape. It argues that struggles for, recognition of, and the practice of human rights have grown and expanded in recent years in the midst of continuing challenges and widespread human rights violations by both state and civil society actors. The complex and contradictory tapestry and trajectory of human rights is analyzed in the shifting contexts of democratization, globalization, regionalization, and militarization, which collectively have structured African political economies since the 1990s. The question of human rights discourse in Africa is also examined by revisiting some of the debates about the generations and hierarchy of rights. Furthermore, the article looks at the role of the state and society in developing or undermining human rights norms.     

Joint Working: The Health Service Agenda

The purpose of this article is to examine the policy and practice of collaboration between health and local government from a health servicesperspective. Within this remit, the authors primarily focus on the area of primary care. Four key elements of the post-1997 policy context are discussed: the move from GP fund-holding to Primary Care Groups and Trusts (PCG/Ts); a shift from treating to preventing illness; a drive for implementation by central government; and an emphasis on collaboration. Within this broad context, there are a number of factors which may support enhanced collaboration: the size, scope, responsibilities and budgets of PCG/Ts may well provide an organisational framework which is supportive of joint working. However, the ‘Berlin Wall’ between health and social care has proved to be enduring, and there are aspects of the post-1997 policy context which will continue to inhibit effective joint working, in particular centrally designed performance management systems and the dominance by GPs of PCG/Ts.     

Human Rights and the Renminbi

The solidarity of the G‐20 nations in staving off global financial crisis two years ago has deteriorated into a brawl over currency valuations, trade imbalances and sovereign debt, reflecting the great powershift from the West to the East and the emerging economies. In this section, we invited comments from historians, a former head of state who successfully navigated the Asian financial crisis and a prominent Chinese dissident.     

China: The Next Big Crash

Buoyed by its creditor's hold on the United States and its ability to withstand the harsh winds of recession blowing from across the Pacific, China has graduated in its own mind from an emerging economy to a world power. From their confrontation with Google to their renewed repression of dissidents to their dissing of President Obama, China's leaders clearly feel that the time has come for the world to accomodate China, not vice‐versa. Is the West ready for this new reality? Is China's new arrogance well‐founded, or is it going to be the next bubble to burst? As it moves beyond “the primary stage of socialism” is it ready to open up politically? In this section, some top China scholars, one of China's most well‐known dissidents and a former US spy chief discuss these issues.     

O'Neill and the Political Turn Against Human Rights

In this article I examine Onora O’Neill’s philosophical critique of human rights in the context of her appointment to the Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission and the recent political turn against human rights in the UK.     

Do Human Rights Require a Strong State?

Will China's authoritarian leaders succeed in building a future by erasing the past? Can the ideology of “nationalist consumerism” obliterate memory altogether? Will the Olympic applause drown out the weak and exiled witnesses of the Tiananmen crackdown? In this section we listen to a key Tiananmen student leader two decades on as well as check in with today's young elites in Beijing. A political leader from the reformist regime in 1989 calls for justice from house arrest and a young Chinese novelist wonders what kind of identity is possible without memory.     

西藏民主改革是世界人权史上光辉的一页

西藏实行民主改革到现在半个世纪了。民主改革后，西藏的社会经济发生了巨大的变化，人民群众得到了实惠，生产和生活水平都有了极大的提高。然而，随着时间的推移，达赖集团及西方反华势力却利用民主改革问题诋毁和攻击中国共产党和中国政府的治藏政策。西藏要不要进行民主改革呢？改革触动了谁的利益、维护了谁的人权？改革是怎样进行的？改革的结果如何？藏族有句谚语：“口说是水泡，实做是黄金。”意思是口里说得再好也没有用，还要用事实来说话。