Human Rights and Public Goods

William F. Felice & Diana Fuguitt

This powerful and empowering text offers a way forward for alleviating human suffering, presenting a realistic roadmap for enhanced global governance that can create workable solutions to mass poverty. William Felice and Diana Fuguitt emphasize the critical links between international human rights law, international political economy, and global organizations to formulate effective public policy to alleviate human suffering and protect basic human rights for all. They introduce students to the key legal and economic concepts central to economic and social human rights, including the right to education, a healthy environment, food, basic health care, housing, and clean water. They analyze the legal approaches undertaken by the United Nations and explain the key theories of international political economy (including liberalism, nationalism, and structuralism) and central economic concepts (including global public goods, economic equality, and the capabilities approach).

In the last decade, a backlash against economic globalization has been fueled by a variety of politicians around the world. A resurgent nationalism is often pitted against international organizations and frameworks for global cooperation. In this new edition, Felice and Fuguitt account for how the current global political climate has affected national and global policies for the provision of public goods and the protection of human rights. They focus on practical policies and actions that both state and nonstate actors can take to uphold economic and social rights. As the first book to integrate these legal and economic approaches, it provides a practical path to action for students, academics, and policy makers alike.

Reviews

“Human Rights and Public Goods: The Global New Deal could not be timelier. At a moment when public health systems, social safety nets, and environmental systems are increasingly stretched beyond their limits and as popular protest reveals afresh the depths of systemic racism and social exclusion, this book is a rare gift. Felice and Fuguitt explain in clear and persuasive language why and how to realign core economic institutions in order to better safeguard human rights. This third edition reads as an open invitation for critical inquiry and caring dialogue—something that students, scholars, and general readers alike will find useful and inspiring as they seek ‘a direction for viable structural reform.’ Comprehensive, meticulously researched, well-organized and deeply humane, this is a standout volume that has stood the test of time, is continuously updated, and remains urgently relevant.”
— Shareen Hertel, University of Connecticut; editor of The Journal of Human Rights

“This third edition of Human Rights and Public Goods builds on the strengths of its predecessors and challenges educators and students alike to imagine the policies and means to address chronic human rights violations, needless suffering, and status-quo pessimism. The authors offer trenchant analyses of international legal, social, economic, and environmental issues, and they demonstrate the existence of genuine alternatives—the Global New Deal—to the current ineffectual policies of most nation-states. The book is an invaluable resource for any course on human rights, international law, or political economy.”
— Michael Joseph Smith, University of Virginia

“There are very few textbooks that offer a comprehensive review of international human rights treaties, conventions, and laws while at the same time contextualizing these instruments within the broader theories of international political economy and public goods. Human Rights and Public Goods does exactly that while also remaining accessible to undergraduates and versatile for faculty and instructors. A great strength of the third edition is the integration of economics and political science in such a way that challenges neoliberal globalization while rejecting the reactionary nationalism seen around the world today and re-centering public goods. As the world faces historic upheaval and daunting challenges, Felice and Fuguitt offer a practical and grounded roadmap for rebuilding just and equitable societies.”
— LaDawn Haglund, Arizona State University