Essay question: Is the idea of human rights a universal concept, or is it western cultural imperialism?
The idea of human rights originate from western culture and then spread to non-western countries. Some people believe that the idea of human rights is a universal concept because human rights is a kind of universal values and most of countries agree and promote it. However, due to the different culture and social civilization, the understanding and implementation patterns are different between western and non-western countries. In order to affect native culture and establish hegemony in non-western nations, some western countries popularize western ideology and values forcibly. Therefore, in my opinion, …show more content…
National sovereignty is the special attributes that a country different from other social groups, is the inherent right of a state. In western values, human rights above sovereignty. In contrast, non-western countries believe that human rights and sovereignty are inseparable, emphasizing safeguard human rights and respect sovereignty. Non-western nations promote collective human rights which mainly include right of peoples to self-determination and right to development. The Declaration on the Right to Development proclaims “[the] right to development is an inalienable human right by virtue of which every human person and all peoples are entitled to participate in, contribute to, and enjoy economic, social, cultural and political development, in which all human rights and fundamental freedoms can be fully realized” and “[the] human right to development also implies the full realization of the right of peoples to self-determination, which includes, subject to the relevant provisions of both International Covenants on Human Rights, the exercise of their inalienable right to full sovereignty over all their natural wealth and resources” (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights 1986). The collective human rights greatly help developing countries and colonial …show more content…
Western countries try to infiltrate western values and ideologies to affect native cultures in other countries. Then control the economic, political and cultural development, establish hegemony and western cultural imperialism. During the cultural infiltration, some non-western countries formed their unique human rights theory. The different concepts and policy implementation in western and non-western countries are caused by many aspects. Firstly, most of western countries are capitalism, some non-western countries are socialism. The different social systems and ideologies represents different interests of working people and bourgeoisie in two different social classes. Secondly, interests and national development path are different between western developed countries and non-western developing countries. Thirdly, different culture, religion and social civilization also cause the different thinking mode and understanding of human rights. In addition, human rights diplomacy becomes an important factor affecting international relations. Western countries use it as a tool to get more national interests and solidify hegemony. Human rights became an excuse to spread western values forcibly and interfere internal affairs of other countries. Therefore, in my opinion, the idea of human rights is western cultural imperialism because it help western countries control economic, political and