Human Rights Then and Now: Tracing the Changes in Human Rights Discourse from the Creation of the United Declaration of Human Rights to the Present

Abstract

This thesis looks at the growth and changes of the idea of human rights from 1945 to the present by examining international human rights organizations and major actors within the field and how they responded to particular human rights events. By studying their reactions to these events, I illustrate the ways in which the idea of human rights has evolved as well as the changes in its implementation. How the dissertation does it: By starting with 1945, I am able to look at the impacts of the Second World War on human rights development with the formation of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. From there I cover human rights during the Cold War, and how it changed in the 1990s when it was no longer being used as an ideological battleground between the Soviet Union and the United States. I then address the impact of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States and where human rights has gone in the aftermath. Sources come from a variety of literature including primary sources, books, peer-reviewed journals, books, government documents, and news articles.