Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities
Abstract
Despite having played a significant role in the development and continuation of an international standard of human rights, the United States has a history of hypocrisy and double standards when it comes to protecting human rights both at home and abroad. This essay examines the connection between the United States and human rights in three key parts. Part I examines the concepts of manifest destiny and American exceptionalism that is prevalent in American society and how those concepts influence the United States engagement with foreign countries on human rights. Part II then, through the case studies of Israel and Afghanistan, looks at the ways human rights has been used as political football in American politics to further the American agenda. In part III, the intersections of race, politics and human rights is explored through the context of President Barack Obama and Vice President Kamala Harris. The section further explores the hypocrisy and double standards that are prevalent in both Obama and Harris’s administrations whether that be in domestic or foreign approaches to human rights policy. The piece concludes by looking at the implications of US foreign human rights policy and what the trend of backsliding human rights means for the future.
Recommended Citation
Noor, Ikran J.
(2024)
"Challenging the American Empire: A History of Hypocrisy and Double Standards in Human Rights,"
Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities: Vol. 13:
Iss.
1, Article 3.
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.macalester.edu/tapestries/vol13/iss1/3
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