ABSTRACT
As discussed in chapter 1, the international recognition of economic human rights occurred as part of a post-World War II global movement to define and codify human rights more generally. The United States played a leadership role in the UN General Assembly’s 1948 adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, an historic document addressing fundamental economic as well as civil and political rights. However, in the decades since its adoption, U.S. political elites’ record of respect for human rights abroad has been uneven and often self-serving. Moreover, elites have ignored or resisted efforts to frame conditions within the United States in ways that would allow the U.S. government to be held accountable for violation of international human rights standards.
