Position: Professor

Campus Affiliation: John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Email: chrights@jjay.cuny.edu

Degrees/Diplomas: Ph.D. and LL.B. Cambridge University

Research Interests: International Organizations, International Security, international Human Rights, and the Laws of War

Among Prof. Andreopoulos’ publications are Non-State Actors in the Human Rights Universe (with Zehra Arat and Peter Juviler, Kumarian Press, 2006) (ed.); Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994; paperback, 1997; with Sir Michael Howard and Mark Shulman. The Laws of War: Constraints on Warfare in the Western World. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994; paperback 1997; with Harold Selesky. The Aftermath of Defeat: Societies, Armed Forces and the Challenge of Recovery. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994; The Use and Abuse of anti-Americanism in Greece. Athens: Polytypo Publications, 1994; and with Richard Pierre Claude. Human Rights Education for the Twenty-First Century. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1997. The Human Rights Education book has been translated into Japanese, Chinese and Portuguese and was nominated for the Grawemeyer Award in Education. He is the Founding Director of the Center for International Human Rights at John Jay College and serves on the Editorial Board of several academic journals. He is past President of the Interdisciplinary Studies Section (IDSS) of the International Studies Association (ISA) and past President of the Human Rights Section of the American Political Science Association (APSA). He is the recipient of many grants and fellowships including, among others, from the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Stavros Niarchos Foundation, the Alexander Onassis Foundation and the German Research Foundation. Professor Andreopoulos’ latest book is Reconfigurations of Authority, Power and Territoriality (co-authored and co-edited with Stephen Rosow), Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Human Rights Review published by Springer.

Books

George Andreopoulos and Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat, eds., The Uses and Misuses of Human Rights: A Critical Approach to Advocacy (Palgrave, 2014)

Most of the academic literature on human rights seeks to identify and explain instances of use and abuse. Less emphasis has been placed on examining cases of misuse, namely actions undertaken by sincere and devoted advocates of human rights that unintentionally undermine international norms, adversely affect the wellbeing of intended beneficiaries, or violate others’ human rights. Addressing both uses and misuses of human rights, this volume seeks to fill an important gap. It offers an analytical framework and a series of case studies that draw attention to the intended and unintended consequences of advocacy work. Emphasizing the challenges to the effective and proper use of human rights norms, processes, and mechanisms, it tries to identify strategies and contexts that enable human rights advocacy to work in favor of human rights, as intended, as well as situations in which such advocacy may backfire or unintentionally cause harm. Since the improvement of human rights conditions is ultimately contingent on a better understanding of the strengths and limitations of the human rights discourse and the context in which it is used, being cognizant of unintended negative impacts would lead to the design and execution of more effective advocacy strategies.

George Andreaopolous, Zehra Kabasakal Arat and Peter Juviler eds., Non-State Actors in the Human Rights Universe
(Bloomfield: Kumarian Press, 2006).

Despite the widespread acceptance of human rights at the normative level, actual progress toward the realization of human rights globally has been far from satisfactory. Concerned with human rights outcomes, this book departs from analyses that focus on the role of the state in human rights promotion and urges the study of the entire human rights universe. Transcending as well the literature on the role of NGOs, the book examines a broad range of non-state actors engaged in various activities that violate, promote or protect human rights. Contributing authors examine several important issues, such as bioethics, armed conflicts, and welfare reform, while stressing the need for accountability and mechanisms for curbing human rights violations.

Other Contributors: Michael Goodhart, Herbert F. Spirer, Louise Spirer, Rainer Braun, Judy Gearhart, James L. Gunderson, J. Paul Martin, Richard Falk, Ruth Macklin, Alice Page, Anne Nelson, Thomas R. Lansner, Kevin Bales, Dana-Ain Davis, and Willy Fautre.

George Andreopoulos and Richard Pierre Claude, eds., Human Rights Education for the Twenty-First Century (University of Pennsylvania, 1997)

Human Rights Education for the Twenty-First Century is a comprehensive resource for training, education, and raising awareness in a wide variety of settings, both formal and informal. A diverse group of contributors—experienced activists, education experts, and representatives of several international governmental organizations—provides a rich potpourri of ideas and real-world approaches to initiating, planning, and implementing programs for teaching people about their human rights and fundamental freedoms. This volume has been developed for a global audience of educators, scholars in many disciplines, nongovernmental organizations, and foundation officers.

Aftermath of Defeat: Societies, Armed Forces and the Challenge of Recovery (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994).

When a country is defeated in war, not only are the policies, strategies, and goals of the military affected, but those of society as well. In this book experts in military history examine conflicts ranging from the American Revolution to the Arab-Israeli wars of 1967 and 1973 and to China’s invasion of Vietnam in 1979 to show how the trauma of defeat also affects the evolution of society.

Sir Michael Howard and Mark Shulman eds., The Laws of War: Constraints on Warfare in the Western World (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994).

This book explores not only the formal constraints on the conduct of war throughout Western history but also the unwritten conventions about what is permissible in the course of military operations. Ranging from classical antiquity to the present, eminent historians discuss the legal and cultural regulation of violence in such matters as belligerent rights, the treatment of prisoners and civilians, the observing of truces and immunities, the use of particular weapons, siege warfare, codes of honor, and war crimes.