Mightier than the sword

• Published in: Harvard international review Vol. 25; no. 1; p. 84
• Main Author: Mertus, Julie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge Harvard International Relations Council 01.04.2003
• Subjects: Equal rights; Foreign policy; Human rights; Law; Morality; National security; Presidency; Presidents; Speeches; Tolerance; Values; Women; United States > US
• ISSN: 0739-1854

For foreign policy observers, US President George Bush's human rights rhetoric strikes a chord distinctly reminiscent of the Reagan administration. First impressions, however, can be deceiving.With respect to human rights, the new policies coming out of the White House are actually far more regressive than those of the Reagan era. The Bush administration's new foreign policy threatens to derail progress on human rights.The administration is undermining the international norms of the UN Charter and other subsequent international treaties, and selectively disregarding international monitoring and enforcement mechanisms. When responding to human rights, the White House instead would seek to act unilaterally, based on a vague notion of human dignity drawn from US notions of freedom and morality. This radical departure is out of line with modern theory and practice on human rights and the policies of every recent US presidential administration.As international attention turns toward pre-emptive military action, other dangerous turns in US foreign policy must not be ignored.