William Felice | Eckerd College (original) (raw)

Papers by William Felice

Economic rights refer to the right to property, the right to work, and the right to social securi... more Economic rights refer to the right to property, the right to work, and the right to social security. Social rights are those entitlements necessary for an adequate standard of living, including rights to food, housing, health, and education. Since economic rights have a social basis, and social rights have an economic basis, both classifications are considered of equal importance and interdependent. The intellectual and social dimensions of economic and social rights have evolved from at least four spheres: religion, philosophy, politics, and law. Throughout history, individuals and groups debated and accepted obligations to help the needy and prevent suffering. There were both religious and secular dimensions to these undertakings. Early human rights advocates moreover proclaimed an interdependence between civil and political rights and economic and social rights and criticized those who made too sharp a distinction between them. A central debate over economic and social rights relates to their legal validity. Some scholars argue that by their very nature, economic and social rights are not “justiciable.” Another issue is the link between economic and social rights in meeting basic human needs and the alleviation of global poverty. The right to development is also important in debates on economic and social rights, as it attempts to correct the economic distortions left by the legacy of colonial domination. Perhaps the most promising new approach to economic and social rights is Amartya Sen’s capabilities approach, which focuses on what individuals need for adequate functioning.

Presidential Studies Quarterly, Mar 1, 2009

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin and U.S. president Woo... more At the beginning of the twentieth century, Bolshevik leader Vladimir Lenin and U.S. president Woodrow Wilson presented competing visions of the right of nations and peoples to self-determination. As opposed to a balance of power among unequal states, these new ideas suggested an international order of equal states operating collectively for their common security. For Wilson, the organization to provide this collective security was the League of Nations; for Lenin, it was the Comintern. In 1918, Wilson stated to Congress that self-determination was not "a mere phrase" but rather "an imperative principle of action, which statesmen will henceforth ignore at their peril" (p. 41). It was Wilson, and not Lenin, who captured the political imagination of oppressed peoples around the world. In The Wilsonian Moment, Erez Manela brilliantly reconstructs the story of the colonial world at the end of World War I and the impact of Wilson's new ideas for world peace and justice on the anticolonial movement. Rather than focusing on the views and actions of the great powers, Manela documents the effect of the negotiations at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 on the hopes and aspirations of those then experiencing colonial domination. Wilson's ideas reached a global audience, and "when peace came, colonial peoples moved to claim their place in the world on the basis of Wilson's proclamations" (p. 6). The book's title, The Wilsonian Moment, refers to the period from the autumn of 1918, when the Allied victory seemed assured and Wilson's ideas for a New World Order appeared destined for success, to the spring of 1919, when the terms of the Treaty of Versailles became public and the failure of the Wilsonian promise became obvious. Manela focuses his book on the experiences of four groups: Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, and Koreans. He documents the responses of these four emergent nations to Wilson's ideas, conclusively demonstrating the impact of the new international norm of self-determination on these local movements. He shows how the Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, and Koreans shared important elements of historical experience and how the "Wilsonian moment" presented opportunities for each group to advance claims of selfdetermination and nationhood both at home and abroad. While each campaign for self-determination "had roots in internal developments within each society. .. they were also intricately enmeshed in the international context of the Wilsonian moment" (p. 12). Nationalism thus can only be understood within a global context. As Manela writes, "Nationalism, as an ideology and as a form of political practice, evolved conceptually and historically within an international context, and it cannot be fully understood outside that context" (p. 8). One of the most important insights in Manela's study is the power of global norms and ideas on local political action. The nationalist activists in Egypt, India, China, and Korea saw themselves as part of a global movement on the international stage, seeking to reshape international relations based on respect for internal and external selfdetermination. Each group sought to harness Wilson's power and rhetoric to achieve international recognition and equality for their countries. When it became clear in the BOOK REVIEWS | 167

Human Rights Quarterly, 2002

Simplified racial categories can be misleading and dangerous, since individuals are not only a ra... more Simplified racial categories can be misleading and dangerous, since individuals are not only a race, but also a class, gender, and sexuality. Thus, broad generalizations about race can be deceptive and groundless in individual cases. In the real world, a person does not exist only as a racial category.1 According to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD),2 race encompasses color, descent, and national or ethnic origin. "Descent" suggests social origin, such as heritage, lineage, or parentage. "National or ethnic origin" denotes linguis tic, cultural, and historical roots. Thus, this broad concept of race clearly is not limited to objective, mainly physical elements, but also includes subjective and social components. The ingredients considered central to a

University of California Press eBooks, Mar 27, 2015

Social Science Research Network, 2013

The ideas of global citizenship and moral interdependence are explored in this paper through two ... more The ideas of global citizenship and moral interdependence are explored in this paper through two case studies which present challenges to the central human rights norms of individual positive identity and ecological balance. The case studies are: (1) the brutalization, arrest, and (in some cases) killing of gay men in Africa, and (2) the ecological devastation in China. While the suffering occurring in Africa and China seems distant and unrelated to our lives in the US, both examples demonstrate the ways in which we are morally interdependent.

2 The "General Comments" of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) elabora... more 2 The "General Comments" of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) elaborate the obligations of states to respect, protect and fulfill economic and social human rights. General Comments #12 on the Right to Food, #13 on the Right to Education, and #14 on the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health are particularly useful. For a summary of all CESCR General Comments, see Felice 2003, 60-71.

Social Justice, Jun 22, 2010

AFTER PRESIDENT OBAMA CITED CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIAN AND ETHICIST REINHOLD Niebuhr (1892-1971) as one... more AFTER PRESIDENT OBAMA CITED CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIAN AND ETHICIST REINHOLD Niebuhr (1892-1971) as one of his favorite philosophers, the blogosphere erupted with commentary on what this might portend for the foreign policy of the new administration. Niebuhr had been known as the "pastor to the Presidents," with many, including Jimmy Carter, mentioning his influence on their moral reasoning. In recognition of his lasting impact on the Presidency, Lyndon Johnson awarded Niebuhr the Medal of Freedom in 1964. Pundits have had a field day speculating on the possible implications of Obama's self-defined connection to the ethics of Niebuhr. Will the foreign policy decision-making of the Obama administration thus mirror that of Carter, or that of other past presidents influenced by Niebuhr? Mark Tooley describes Niebuhr as "probably the 20th century's finest ethicist in the liberal Protestant tradition," representing the school of "Christian realism." The rise of Nazism led Niebuhr to believe in a "transcendent evil" and he supported the war against Hitler. He criticized pacifists and Christian idealists who thought that force could never be justified (Tooley, 2009). Instead, Niebuhr argued: "Since reason is always, to some degree, the servant of interest in a social situation, social injustice cannot be resolved by moral and rational suasion alone, as the educator and social scientist usually believes. Conflict is inevitable, and in this conflict power must be challenged by power" (Niebuhr, 1932: xiv-xv). But even when force is justified, as in World War II (which he believed was a just war), he maintained that there were moral limits to the use of military power. Niebuhr, for example, criticized the Allied bombing of cities and questioned the use of nuclear weapons by the United States in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After World War II, he supported the efforts to contain Communism, but he strongly opposed the Vietnam War, and in general thought that U.S. involvement in unwinnable land wars in Asia was unwise (Tooley, 2009). Niebuhr explained his views of human nature and politics in his influential book, Moral Man and Immoral Society, which was later cited by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., in his "Letter from Birmingham City Jail." In this work, Niebuhr asserts that people are capable of doing good, but groups are driven by "predatory self-interest." Niebuhr explains: "Individuals have a moral code which makes the actions of collective man an outrage to their conscience.... [This] symbolizes one of the tragedies of the human spirit: its inability to conform its collective life to its individual ideals. As individuals, men believe that they ought to love and serve each other and establish justice between each other. As racial, economic, and national groups, they take for themselves whatever their power can command" (Niebuhr, 1932: 9). During a 2007 interview with New York Times columnist David Brooks, Obama explained what he learned from Niebuhr and why he called Niebuhr his "favorite philosopher." "I take away," Brooks quoted Obama as saying, "the compelling idea that there's serious evil in the world and hardship and pain. And we should be humble and modest in our belief that we can eliminate those things. But we shouldn't use that as an excuse for cynicism and inaction. I take away ... the sense that we have to make these efforts knowing they are hard, and not swinging from naive idealism to bitter realism" (Brooks, 2007). Great-nephew Gustav Niebuhr points out that Obama's political rhetoric often reflects Niebuhr's worldview. He notes, for example, that both Obama and his great-uncle avoid moral absolutes (i.e., good versus evil; you're with us or you're against us) and realize that "the U.S. is not always right and its enemies not always evil." Gustav Niebuhr pointed to Obama's Cairo speech to the Arab world, in which the president acknowledged the U.S. role in undermining and helping to overthrow a democratically elected government in Iran in the 1950s and avoided a "clash of civilizations" framework that can imply that the United States is free of moral stain. …

Choice Reviews Online, Mar 1, 2010

International Affairs, Jul 1, 1999

'The morality of the depths: the right to development as an emerging principle of international l... more 'The morality of the depths: the right to development as an emerging principle of international law', in Taking suffering seriously: the importance of collective human rights (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1996), pp. 69-90. 2 The International Bill of Human Rights encompasses the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. 3 Julia Hausermann, 'The realization and implementation of economic, social and cultural rights', in Ralph Beddard and Dilys M. Hill, eds, Economic, social and cultural rights: progress and achievement (New York: St Martin's Press, 1992), p. 49.

American Political Science Review, Dec 1, 2001

bad realism and bad idealism, of succumbing to either excessive cynicism or excessive wishful thi... more bad realism and bad idealism, of succumbing to either excessive cynicism or excessive wishful thinking. Knight tries to get around this problem by framing his work as an exercise in critical theory. He spends considerable time discussing the agent-structure issue and how international institutions like the UN are creatures of habit and practice yet are able to break out of routines and undergo change. He acknowledges the role of power and interests—“multilateral institutions reflect the underlying configuration of power at a particular critical juncture” (p. 184)—but is strangely silent on whether the United States or any other key state actors would support the governance model he proposes as a basis for UN reform. After a survey of various approaches to UN reform, ranging from those of “status quo advocates,” “incremental process reformists,” and “adaptive reformists” to more radical views (“dissolutionists” and “successionists”), Knight boils down the modes of changing international organizations to three: reform, adaptation, and learning (p. 40). He argues that neither reform (explicit, planned, formal restructuring) nor adaptation (informal, reflexive, nonpurposive organizational responses to changing circumstances) have worked to make the UN a more effective multilateral institution. He calls for learning as the preferred mode of change and offers a “subsidiarity” model as the best chance for “rethinking” how the UN should function. Similar to the model adopted by the European Union, subsidiarity amounts to “sharing the labour of governance with central, regional, and local bodies” (p. 173). The book is surprisingly sparing in its elaboration of what this would entail, and only a few pages at the end (pp. 170–8) describe the model. Indeed, at a time when Knight admits economic issues threaten to overtake traditional security issues as a paramount global concern, the only real recommendation he puts forth is in the war/peace area: a greater role for regional organizations, such as the Organization of African States and the Organization of African Unity, and, as conflict managers. Not only is this an underwhelming recommendation after almost 200 pages, but also, as the author recognizes, regional organizations have not had much success in the security field over the years. A central twofold question of our time is: (1) How much government/governance do more than six billion human beings want in their lives, that is, what is the proper relationship between state and society, and (2) to the extent it is understood that some measure of government/governance is needed, what is the optimal level for maximizing benefits in a given issue area, that is, global, regional, national, or local? Knight’s book, at times very insightful and eloquent, makes a modest contribution in helping us confront this puzzle. One only wishes he had carried the analysis farther.

Ethics & International Affairs, Mar 1, 2000

Ethics & International Affairs, Mar 1, 1996

Social Justice, Mar 22, 1997

... Ed McCaughan, "Globalization, National Culture, and Left Discourse in Mexico&quo... more ... Ed McCaughan, "Globalization, National Culture, and Left Discourse in Mexico" (unpublished manu? script: 4-5). See also Immanuel Wallerstein, "The Collapse of Liberalism," in R. Miliband and L. Panitich (eds.), Socialist Register 1992 (London: Merline Press, 1992). ...

Ethics & International Affairs, 1997

... For information, address the State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Alba... more ... For information, address the State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246 Production by Christine Lynch Marketing by Nancy Farrell Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Pubiication Data Felice, William, 1950-Taking suffering seriously : the ...

Since its founding, the member states of the United Nations have again and again, often with grea... more Since its founding, the member states of the United Nations have again and again, often with great flourish, declared their commitment to the elimination of global poverty. In its Millennium Declaration of September 2000, for example, the states of the UN declared that they would “spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty, to which more than a billion of them are currently subjected” (United Nations 2000). Similar commitments were made at the 1995 World Summit for Social Development meeting in Copenhagen where the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) presented “A World Social Charter,” which included the following: “We are convinced that it is possible to overcome the worst aspects of poverty in our lifetime through collective effort. We jointly affirm that our first step towards this goal will be to design a global compact that ensures that no child goes without an education [and] no human being is...

working paper no. 19 Respecting, protecting and fulfilling economic and social rights:

Under the leadership of former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, and former High