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In recent decades international and regional human rights norms have been increasingly applied to constitutional provisions, revealing significant tensions between primary political arrangements, such as power-sharing institutions, and human rights norms. This book argues that these tensions, generally framed as a peace versus justice dilemma, are built on an individualistic conception of justice that fails to account for the empirical reality in places characterized by ethnically based political exclusion and inequalities. By introducing the concept of 'Collective Equality' as a new theoretical basis for the law of peace, this timely book proposes a new approach for dealing with the tensions between peace-related arrangements and human rights norms. Through principled, pragmatic, and legal reasoning the book develops a new paradigm that captures more accurately what equality and human rights mean and require in the context of ethno-national conflicts, and provides potent guidance for advancing justice and peace in such places.
List of contents
1. Introduction; Part I. Human Rights and Democracy in Deeply Divided Places: 2. The politics of ethno-national conflicts; 3. The limits of partition; 4. Limitations of human rights; Part II. Revisiting Assumptions: 5. Rethinking democracy; 6. Human rights versus power-sharing; Part III. Collective Equality: 7. Collective equality: theoretical foundations for the law of peace; 8. Collective equality and sustaining peace; 9. Collective equality and international law; Conclusion.
About the author
Limor Yehuda is a lecturer at the faculty of law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and researcher at the Truman Research Institute for the Advancement of Peace and the Van-Leer Institute. Previously Yehuda clerked for President Aharon Barak at Israel's Supreme Court and practiced human right law at the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) where she directed the Department for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories.
Summary
This book will appeal to academics and students studying law, transitional justice, political science and international relations as well as to policymakers, diplomats, journalists and civil society professionals working on conflict related injustices and are interested in the role of law and justice in political transitions and peacebuilding.
Foreword
This book develops 'Collective Equality' as a new theoretical basis for the law of peace and for transitional justice.
