Human Rights In A Political Democratic System Research

HUMAN RIGHTS IN DEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS
Rosely S. Eaton
INTS 362
5/6/2017
HUMAN RIGHTS IN DEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS
Across the world, sometimes government officials make decisions that violate human rights. This raises several questions like what happens when such decisions are made and how does the public react when a decision made by the majority discriminates the minority in the society? This also raises a major question that needs to be answered, can democracy protect human rights? As the society becomes more dynamic, these issues gain more importance since several values and goals need to be achieved. In the modern world, demographic developments are changing, migration developments in the world population points that the dynasty of the society will intensify and the major criterion to handling it will be human quality and of the coming generations. This paper will attempt to address the above questions and discuss the relationship between democracy and human rights. It will also demonstrate that a democratic political system is essential to protect international human rights by focusing on the cosmopolitan democracy theory.
Human Rights in a political democratic system
Introduced by David Held and other theorists, the cosmopolitan democracy theory claims to have turned cosmopolitanism into a project of incorporating politics with democracy. David Held and his group say they have successfully combined cosmopolitanism where all people belong to a single moral society with democracy. In general cosmopolitan democracy strives to combine strong human rights institutions with democracy. To better understand the approach of human rights and democracy by cosmopolitan democracy, cosmopolitan democracy will have to be reconstructed starting with the principle of autonomy that has turned out to be the global ‘public law.'[Held, 1995. 146]
The principle of autonomy and public law
The principle of autonomy was the roadmap to cosmopolitan democracy. In its sense, autonomy suggests that human beings should have the capacity to be self-reflectors, self-determining and conscious thinkers. Therefore, the principle of autonomy advocates for self-conscious thinking and reflections in public. Held continue to argue further that the policy requires everyone in the society to have equal rights in the participation of forming a political system that recognizes and determines their life conditions provided that they respect those of other by not violating them.[Held, 1995: 147.]
From Held's view, it can be concluded that the principle of autonomy justifies both democracy and human rights. Consequently, two important things emerge from this principle of autonomy. First, it emphasizes on the participation of individuals in forming their political framework. Secondly, it demonstrates the relationship between human rights and democracy.
From the principle of autonomy's dimension, someone may question how did cosmopolitan democracy revolve to a public law? Rights are there to protect people from being denied their autonomy in all environments. Deprivation of autonomy consists of war and violence, which takes different expressions in all aspects of power.[Held, 1995.]
Each aspect of power consists a set of rights that are necessary for encouraging the public to participate in equal terms that regulate their associations to enhance equal autonomy. These rights that enable individuals to take part in political and social affairs equally is what Held term as "democratic public law." This law creates a framework that provides a "criteria by which one can judge whether or not a given political system or set of arrangements is democratic." A new paradigm for protecting the autonomy and the right to legal capacity.[Bach, and Lana, 2014. A new paradigm for protecting autonomy and the right tolegal capacity.]
Human Rights
Human rights provide protection to all elements that are essential for survival and life of every person. They belong to everyone in the society regardless of their skin color, religion, gender, nationality, social statuses, and political affiliations. They have some complexities since they are also legal, moral and political rights. From the legal perspective, they belong to a legal system, and people in that system are entitled to them. They are "legal entitlements of individuals against the state or state-like entities, guaranteed by international law for the purpose of protecting fundamental needs of the human person and his/her dignity in times of peace and war."[Kirchschläger. 2014]
In the legal perspective, there is progress in efforts to achieve universal human rights across the world. Human rights have a legal definition and framework. International institutions such as UN Human Rights Council and UN Treaty Body System were established to realize and enhance fulfillment of human rights.[Erman, 2016. Human rights and democracy.]
These elements have demonstrated that human rights are a legal reality all over the world. However, human rights tend to gain more weight when they get included in legal systems such as through a democratic process due to their enforceability can be legitimated in a democratic manner.[Richard, Bellamy. "Rights as democracy."]
The legal perspective on human rights is due to one element of political dimension on human rights that strives to include everyone in the political activities of a country. It embraces and recognizes human rights in all aspects of political activities although they do not result in legal consequences. However, they have some political importance to the public.
Human Rights and Democratic Governance
Traditionally, governance was never associated with either democracy or human rights. In the 60s and 70s, governance started to emphasize on effective exercise of power to achie...