Implementation and Foreign Policy

Abstract

The previous chapters have focused upon the way that the idea of human rights was kept alive in the General Assembly, Councils, Commissions, Committees and Working Groups of the United Nations. However, for much of the period between 1945 and the early 1970s human rights remained a ‘minority’ interest.1 Beyond those engaged directly in the debate on the Bill of Rights, or those involved in special interest pressure group politics, there is little evidence that the idea of human rights achieved the status of a social institution such that it affected the day-to-day conduct of international politics.2 For most of the period the international political agenda was dominated by military security and economic interests. This was so even before the United States withdrew formally from the debate on human rights and left the regime without hegemonic leadership. In the early postwar period, these interests focused upon economic reconstruction and the political consequences of an emergent East—West ideological struggle. Later, the mutual apprehension and mistrust of the Cold War gave focus to security issues at the expense of all other considerations, including human rights. The United States adopted a policy of ‘containment’ and gave support to any government, totalitarian or authoritarian, provided it was avowedly anti-communist.3 During the late 1960s and early 1970s the energy crisis, nuclear disarmament and détente were the central concerns of international politics. However, the end of the Vietnam war, followed by the collapse of détente, provided the catalyst for questions about the paucity of moral content in United States’ foreign policy. By early 1975 even Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, a man with little previous enthusiasm for human rights as a foreign policy aim, was showing some concern for the issue.4 KeywordsForeign PolicyTrade CreditInternational PoliticsState PartyHigh CommissionerThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.