Human Rights and World Public Order ― The Basic Policies of an International Law of Human Dignity

In 1980, Professors McDougal, Lasswell, and Chen published the original edition of Human Rights and World Public Order to present a "comprehensive framework of inquiry" from which to approach international human rights law, and international law, and inadequacies therein in the discourse of that time by combining theme, structure, method, and process. As a classic text of the New Haven School of International Law, this book explores human rights and international law in the broadest sense, taking into account social sciences research while embracing all values secured, or consequently fulfilled, or needed to thus be achieved. The book endured as a lasting contribution that reframed human rights within the New Haven School tradition, and as a magnificent work of scholarship freed from the confines of positivism and the static concerns of any one political or historical period.

Co-author Lung-chu Chen spearheaded the re-issuance of this venerable title, complete with a contemporary, fresh Introduction to unveil this work to a new generation of scholars, students, and practitioners of international law and human rights. This Introduction surveys the major developments in human rights since 1980, including many doctrines and concepts that have emerged since. It covers contemporary events to provide today's readers with the opportunity to contextualize the chapters and to apply the book's framework to future endeavors.

Myres S. McDougal (deceased) was the former Sterling Professor of International Law at Yale University Law School

Harold D. Lasswell (deceased) was the former Ford Foundation Professor of Social Sciences at Yale University.

Lung-chu Chen is an internationally recognized scholar specializing in international law, human rights, the United Nations, and Taiwan. He is Professor of Law at New York Law School and founder and president of New Century Institute (New York) and founder and chairman of Taiwan New Century Foundation (Taiwan), a dual-nation think tank. He received his LL.B. with first-place honors from National Taiwan University, LL.M. from Northwestern University, and LL.M. and J.S.D. from Yale University. He authored The U.S.-Taiwan-China Relationship in International Law and Policy (Oxford 2016), and An Introduction to Contemporary International Law: A Policy-Oriented Perspective (Third Edition, Oxford, 2015).