The Struggle for Human Rights in Africa
- 1 January 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Taylor & Francis Ltd in Canadian Journal of African Studies / Revue Canadienne des Études Africaines
- Vol. 41 (3), 474-506
- https://doi.org/10.1080/00083968.2007.10751366
Abstract
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.Keywords
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