Religion and the Global Politics of Human Rights

The democratic revolution of the past century has heightened expectations in many parts of the world about human rights, including the rights of representation and free speech, protection for women and children, and fair treatment for minorities. This book brings together leading scholars from across disciplines to explore the efforts of religious communities to advance human rights agendas, often against internal and government opposition. Through an exploration of key cases, ranging from female genital mutilation in Africa through capital punishment in the United States, the volume moves beyond well-known controversies about the compatibility of particular religious traditions with human rights and explores instead how national and local faith communities invoke and adapt international human rights norms to specific policy challenges.

TB: Director, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs, Georgetown University RW: Andlinger Professor of Sociology and Director, Center for the Study of Religion, Princeton University

1.: Introduction
Thomas Banchoff and Robert Wuthnow
2.: The International Human Rights Regime
Thomas Banchoff
Part I: Islam and the Global Politics of Human Rights
3.: Human Rights and Democracy in Islam: The Indonesian Case in Global Perspective
Robert W. Hefner
4.: Muslims, Human Rights and Women's Rights
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad
Part II: Three Regions: Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Southeast Asia
5.: Religious Pluralism, Democracy and Human Rights in Latin America
Paul Freston
6.: Gender Justice and Religion in Sub-Saharan Africa
Rogaia Mustafa Abusharaf
7.: Buddhism, Human Rights, and Non-Buddhist Minorities
Charles Keyes
Part III: Four Key Countries: India, China, Russia and the US
8.: Hinduism and the Politics of Rights in India
Pratap Bhanu Mehta
9.: Religion, State Power, and Human Rights in China
David Ownby
10.: Religious Communities and Rights in the Russian Federation
Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer
11.: Human Rights, the Catholic Church, and the Death Penalty in the United States
Thomas Banchoff