In the “four freedoms” that laid the foundation for the post-war human rights regime, “freedom from fear” was initially conceived as freedom from war and state aggression.  Decades later, in an era of democracy and globalization, an estimated one-third of the world’s women live in fear from gender-based violence.  The paradigm and political program of “women’s rights as human rights” generated by the 1993 Vienna human rights conference has offered a path-breaking response to this global pattern of abuse: agenda change, mobilization, monitoring, and global policy.  This talk will trace the critical case of the politics of human rights responding to sexual violence in India.

This is a Work in Progress talk, in which faculty present their ongoing research projects. The entire talk and Q&A will be contained to an hour. Please feel free to bring your own lunch.

PS 595 Credit.