The Ernest Gellner Nationalism Lecture
The Soviet Union, self‐determination, and the creation of the postwar human rights system
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6306296 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Eric D Weitz (City College and the Graduate Center CUNY New York New York City), Eric Weitz (0000-0002-7447-4060, City College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 26 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 297-307 |
| Publication date | 2020-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Nations and Nationalism (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1345-5078 • E-ISSN: 1469-8129 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/nana.12576 |
| OpenAlex | W3005152905 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 13 |
The USSR played a key role in the establishment of the post‐World War II human rights system despite its repressive and even murderous domestic record. It forged an alliance with the countries of the Global South in support of decolonization, self‐determination, and social and economic rights, policies opposed by liberal states like the United States, Great Britain, and France. These positions were deeply rooted in the socialist tradition. Moreover, when a human rights movement emerged in the mid‐1960s, its members—in its origins overwhelmingly from the intelligentsia—called not for the overthrow of the Soviet Union but for the fulfilment of Soviet law. The language of rights, proclaimed with such flourish in the 1936 constitution and its successor in 1977, served as the weapon hurled by dissidents as they called on the Soviet government to respect freedom of speech and assembly, and national rights, including the right to emigrate. In turn, the international human rights movement developed from the 1960s to the 1990s largely through support for the Soviet dissident movement, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch prime examples. The Soviet experience is critical to any global history of human rights
Alliance · Amnesty · Constitution · Fundamental rights · Human rights · Human rights movement · Intelligentsia · International human rights law · Linguistic rights · Nationalism · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Right to property · Sociology · Communism, Protests, Social Movements · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · International Law and Human Rights · Law
Khrushchev
Eyes off the prize
The Question of Nationalities and Social Democracy
René Cassin and Human Rights
The Wilsonian Moment
The Making of International Human Rights
Conscience, Dissent and Reform in Soviet Russia
To Defend These Rights
Ralph Bunche
A world divided
Soviet Dissent
Self-Determination
The Dictatorship of Reason
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2026 - 2026 (1) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |