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A Cross-Cultural Approach to Validating International Human Rights: The Case of Retribution Tied to Proportionality

  • Chapter
Human Rights

Part of the book series: Policy Studies Organization Series ((PSOS))

Abstract

A comparative analysis of national human rights policies should not proceed without a careful consideration of the philosophical underpinnings of the concept. The unanswered challenge of cultural and ethical relativism has left the universality of international human standards in jeopardy. To determine whether or not specific human rights are universal and can thus be measured cross-culturally, one first needs a comparative analysis of broader moral principles. The central question is whether or not there is any comparable notion, or what has been called the homeomorphic equivalent, for human rights in other societies. A study of the principle of retribution may provide a promising starting point for comparative research of this kind. I will show that the principle of retribution tied to proportionality is extremely widespread if not universal. It serves to limit violence and as such may indicate worldwide support for a principled rejection of arbitrary killing. It would be beyond the scope of this study to do more than offer a preliminary discussion of this proposed means of establishing a consensus on particular human rights and of validating international standards.

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Authors
  1. Alison Dundes Renteln
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, SUNY at Binghamton, USA

    David Louis Cingranelli (Associate Professor) (Associate Professor)

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© 1988 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited

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Renteln, A.D. (1988). A Cross-Cultural Approach to Validating International Human Rights: The Case of Retribution Tied to Proportionality. In: Cingranelli, D.L. (eds) Human Rights. Policy Studies Organization Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-10122-1_2

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