Title

U.S. Human Rights Policy in the Post-Cold War Era

Authors

John W. Dietrich, Bryant University

Document Type

Article

Comments

Published by the Academy of Political Science in Political Science Quarterly, volume 121, Summer 2006: p. 269-94. This is a post-print copy of the article.

The published version of this article is available to Bryant students here.

Publisher

Academy of Political Science

Publication Source

Political Science Quarterly

Abstract

Historically, the implementation of US human rights policy has been a case of "two steps forward, one step back." From its earliest days, the US has attempted, at least to some degree, to include morality, the protection of individual rights, and the spread of democracy in foreign policy calculations. These efforts became more prominent after World War II. By the late 1980s, human rights concerns were firmly embedded in US foreign policy rhetoric, policy making institutions, and global actions. Dietrich examines US human rights policy in the post-Cold War era.