A Public Lecture by Professor Kathryn Sikkink, Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy, Kennedy School, Harvard University will be held on 9 May 2018. The Distinguished Lectures is one of the signature events in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of Lingnan University’s Re-establishment in Hong Kong. The topic of the Lecture is "Evidence for Hope: Making Human Rights Work in the 21st Century".

Date: 9 May 2018 (Wednesday)
Time: 17:00 – 18:30
Venue: MBG01, Patrick Lee Wan Keung Academic Building, Lingnan University
2 ILP units on Civic Education

Abstract

Human rights have become one of the dominant moral and political discourses in the world today. Yet, pessimism about the legitimacy and effectiveness of human rights law, institutions, and movements pervades scholarly and policy debates. Evidence for Hope: Making Human Rights Work in the 21st Century provides a rigorous but hopeful response to the question of whether and how human rights institutions and activists have produced positive change in the world, guided by a philosophy that Albert Hirschman called “possibilism.” Scholars and activists disagree about the effectiveness of human rights because they use different yardsticks and data to measure progress. In this book, Sikkink clarifies these issues, and then uses historical and empirical evidence to arrive at a more robust explanation for the significance and efficacy of human rights.

Synopsis

Pessimism about the legitimacy and effectiveness of human rights pervades scholarly and policy debates. Evidence for Hope: Making Human Rights Work in the 21st Century provides a rigorous but hopeful response to the question of whether and how human rights institutions and activists have produced positive change in the world.

Distinguished Speaker

Kathryn Sikkink is the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, and the Carol K. Pforzheimer Professor at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Sikkink is an international relations scholar best known for her work on human rights, international norms, transnational advocacy networks and social movements, and transitional justice. Her book Activists beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (co-authored with Margaret Keck) was awarded the Grawemeyer Award and the ISA Chadwick Alger Award). Her 2011 book, The Justice Cascade: How Human Rights Prosecutions are Changing World Politics (awarded the Robert F. Kennedy Center Book Award, and the WOLA/Duke University Award), explores the emergence and impact of individual criminal accountability of state officials for past human rights violations. Sikkink’s latest book Evidence for Hope: Making Human Rights Work in the 21st Century (Princeton University Press, 2017) documents the legitimacy and effectiveness of human rights law, institutions, and movements. Sikkink has been a Fulbright Scholar in Argentina and a Guggenheim fellow. She is a member of the American Philosophical Society, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. Sikkink holds an MA and Ph.D. from Columbia University.

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