Human Rights in American Foreign Policy

Building on the general discussion of human rights and foreign policy in the preceding chapter, this chapter looks in some detail at human rights in U.S. foreign policy. We do so both because the United States enjoys a position of leadership in the contemporary world and because of the long American tradition of framing its foreign policy in terms of the dissemination of humane values and principles. And since the mid-1970s, commitment to upholding human rights has been a central feature of the stated foreign policy of the United States.