Volume 3 Number 3 September 2004

TERUHISA SE and RIE KARATSU's article takes up Japanese culture as an example of non-Western cultures and clearly shows a possibility of constructing a plausible conception of human rights based on non-Western cultural contexts, which can have an appeal even for theorists in Western societies. By indicating such a non-Western conception that is not irrelevant even to Western societies, the article aims to contribute to bringing the cross-cultural debate close to the ideal: dialogue through which its participants can mutually learn from different cultures in search for a human rights scheme which truly comprehends all facets of human well-being.

PEDRO PITARCH examines how, in 1994, the Zapatista army - the armed group operating in Chiapas, Mexico - radically modified the way it publicly presented itself From identifying itself as a Marxist revolutionary organization, it came to present itself, for strategic reasons, as an indigenous movement that favored cultural autonomy. This article traces this transformational journey and inquires into the reasons and processes that led to such changes. In particular, attention is given to the use of `ventriloquism,' through which the non-indigenous leaders of the Zapatista army projected their own voices in such a way that they appeared to come from the indigenous population. Through this displacement, the discourse of the Zapatistas, on appearing to be indigenous, managed to acquire extraordinary legitimacy and resonance.

YVON GRENIER discusses how, 12 years after the Peace Accords of Chapultepec (1992), El Salvador is arguably the most authentically neo-liberal (capitalist) Latin American country, and it has followed this path consistently over an unbroken 10 year period. The social injustice that, according to dominant explanations of the `Salvadoran revolution' (starting in the mid-1970s), led to 12 years of civil war, is still there. In fact, social inequalities increased in the post-war period. And yet, revolutionary passion is no longer part of the political landscape - nor is it even on the map. None of the dominant `explanations' of the Salvadoran revolution could help explain why. This article suggests that to explain the emergence of certain kind of middle-class-led, radical political insurrection, one needs to consider political will, ideological imagination and generational revolutionary passions seriously, as an explanatory variable. Indeed, ideas are arguably the infrastructure of revolutionary politics. The article concludes with broader possible implications (for peace building, for instance) of our ideational approach to political change.

Reports of terrorist attacks conducted by Chechen rebels dominate popular coverage of the war in Chechnya. Added to this story is a shocking new turn: women's participation in suicide bombings. But the role of women in the Chechen war cannot be limited to the terrorist attacks that gain headlines; Chechen women are at the heart of non-violent political protest, human rights documentation, and news gathering. BRIDGET CONLEY's essay details the contributions of one remarkable Chechen woman, drawing attention to the brutality of the war through analysis of the risks that she took in her attempts to improve the lives of her compatriots.

It is the hypothesis of ADAMANTIA POLLIS's study that economic globalization and the rise of a global economy has had a deleterious effect on the entire complex of rights. The post-World War controversies revolving around human rights, civil and political rights vs. economic and social rights and universalism vs. cultural relativism have been overshadowed by controversy over the positive or negative effects of globalization, in particular multinationals, on human rights. Evidence is presented that civil, political, economic, social, labor and environmental rights are all grossly violated. And although the most severely affected are the less developed states, globalization has also had a negative effect on post-industrial societies. Consideration is also given to the responses to globalization - fragmentation on the one hand and an incipient global civil society on the other.

MICHELINE R. ISHAY explores the question: what are human rights? While this question may seem to have been resolved in the form of the 28 human rights clauses comprising the 1948 Universal Declaration of Rights, the debate over what constitutes human rights continues, continuing the unresolved legacy of its past. This article draws on six major historical controversies over human rights to address several fallacies that persist both within and outside the human rights community today. It asks: what are the origins of human rights? Why did the European vision of human rights triumph over those of other civilizations? Has socialism made a lasting contribution to the legacy of human rights? Are human rights universal or culturally bound? Must human rights be sacrificed to the demands of national security? Is globalization eroding or advancing human rights?

NIELS UILDRIKS presents a Lithuanian study on police-public violence, where the complaints and the manner in which these are dealt with are addressed. The findings are discussed in the context of wider transitional problems of the changed police role from a communist state organ to an aspiring democratic institution, which has to regain its legitimacy within society under new democratic arrangements. A high level of public complaints and a considerable amount of violence directed against the police can be better understood against a background of a multitude of organizational problems, ineffective policing, and a lack of public trust and legitimacy for carrying out a variety of policing tasks.