Culture & Society in International Perspective

Culture & Society in International Perspective
ASSIGNMENT: Choose one of the following human rights issues, as assigned in class: Refugees, Health Care and Economic Rights, the Death Penalty, or Democracy.
Using all of the following: 1) readings assigned for the case discussion in lecture and sections that week; 2) the concepts used in lecture to outline the debates about whether or what human rights are involved; and, 3) one outside reading of your choice; write a single, well integrated five- to seven-page essay (Required: 12point font; one inch margins; double spaced) Your essay must at address at least the following:
• What do the UDHR and other conventions or protocols say about your chosen area of human rights and what is the current debate about this rights issue?
• What are the current factual circumstances causing this to be a pressing human rights issue?
• In your view, how should the issue be properly understood and why?
• What, exactly, is the policy recommendation that you would make and who is best positioned to
enact it?
This is intended to be an analytic essay that combines a normative argument about a particular human rights debate with a factually grounded description of the current international circumstances. The best argument will be one that takes the opposing argument seriously. A “straw man argument” will damage the credibly of your essay and, alas, your grade. Whatever you argue—for or against—the essay will be judged by how seriously and how well you construct your position and its best counter. Your outside source may be journalistic, academic, or institutional (an NGO, government agency, or international organization, for example). It must be credible and may not be encyclopedic—no Wikipedia-like sources. If you have any questions about what “credible” means, ask me or your Teaching Assistant.
4 sources needed to be include in the essay: 3 articles uploaded and 1 outside sources(reading) of your choice. This is the minimum, you can cite more based on your experience.