UNIVERSITY OF LIVINGSTONIA

EKWENDENI CAMPUS
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Course Outline

Human Rights Theory and Practice-HUR 1202

1. Programme :Bachelor of Social Science in

Development Studies
2. Subject :Development
3. Course Title :Human Rights Theory and Practice
4. Course Code :HUR 1202
5. Year of Study :1
6. Prerequisite Course :MSCE
7. Duration :16 weeks
8. Lecture Hours/Week :4
9. Tutorial Hours/Week :2
10. Practical Hours/Week :0
11. Student Independent Learning Hours/Week:8
12. Total Course Credits :9.6
13. Assessment Weighting :Continuous assessment 40%
Final examination 60%
14. Course Descriptor
To help students appreciate that human rights constitute much of contemporary
discourses; and how understanding the theories and practices would mean respect of
each other’s peace, views, tolerance and collaboration for development.

15. Aim of the course

To help students appreciate that human rights constitute much of contemporary
discourses; and how understanding the theories and practices would mean respect of
each other’s peace, views, tolerance and collaboration for development.

16. Learning outcomes

By the end of the course, students must be able to
a. define the terms “rights” and “human rights”
b. outline the conceptual and historical foundations of rights
c. describe human rights practices in Malawi.
d. identify forms of human rights abuses
e. explain human rights issues from the perspective of the role of rights

17. Topics of the course

a. Definitions of Rights and foundation of human rights
i. H.L.A. Hart, “Existence of Human Rights”
ii. MacCormick: The interest theory
 iii. Maurice Cranston, “Human Rights, Real and Supposed”
iv. Joel Feinberg, “The Nature and Value of Rights”
v. Richard Rorty, “Human Rights, Rationality, and Sentimentality”
vi. Martha Nussbaum: “Capabilities and Human Rights”
vii. Documents: “The Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
b. The History of Rights I: Classical Thought
i. Plato, Republic
ii. Aristotle: Politics
iii. St. Thomas Aquinas: Summa Theological

c. The History of Rights II: Liberalism

i. Hobbes, Leviathan
ii. John Locke
iii. Rousseau, Voltaire, Kant,
iv. Montesquieu: Separation of powers
v. Thomas Paine, Rights of Man
vi. Mary Wollst1craft: A Vindication of the Rights of Women
vii. Documents: The English Bill of Rights, The U.S. Declaration of
1. Independence, Bill of Rights. The French Declaration of the
2. Rights of Man and of the Citizen
d. Rights, Relativism, and the Domination of the West

i. The Dalai Lama: “Human Rights and Universal Responsibility”

ii. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, “Human Rights in the Muslim World”
iii. Xiarong Li: “’Asian Values’ and the Universality of Human Rights”
iv. KwasiWiredu: “An Akan Perspective on Human Rights
v. Charles Taylor, “A World Consensus on Human Rights”
vi. Documents: African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights

e. Rights of Minority Cultures and the need for Contextualization

i. James Crawford: “The Rights of Peoples: ‘Peoples’ or ‘Governments”Will

Kymlicka: “The Good, the Bad, and the Intolerable: Minority Group
Rights”
ii. Documents: Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to
National,Ethnic,
iii. Religious or Linguistic Minorities, Draft Declaration on the Rightsof
Indigenous Peoples

f. Human Rights and the Environment

i. James W. Nickel: “The Human Right to a Safe Environment”
ii. Edith Brown Weiss: “Planetary Rights”
iii. Richard P. Hiskes: “The Right to a Green Future.”
iv. Richard P. Hiskes, “Environmental Rights, Intergenerational Justice, and
Reciprocity with the Future.”
v. Documents: Draft Declaration of Principles on Human Rights and the
Environment

g. Human rights in Malawi

 i. Colonial era
ii. One party era
iii. Multiparty Democracy

h. Human Rights and Accountability in Malawi

i. Distribution of Resources
ii. Malawi Human Rights Commission
iii. Ombudsman

i. Human Rights Abuse in Malawi

i. Constitution of the Republic of Malawi
ii. Bill of Rights
iii. Human Rights Commission
iv. The Judicial System
v. Policy Papers on Human Rights
vi. Case studies of Human rights - within and outside Malawi

18. Modes of delivery, teaching and learning methods and materials

Lectures, group work, assignment, Integrated Curriculum Engagement, debates,
presentations, simulations, e-learning and assignments.

19. Prescribed Texts

Herbert, G. B. (2017). A philosophical history of rights. Routledge.
Lindholt, L. (2019). Questioning the universality of human rights: The African charter
on human
and peoples’ rights in Botswana, Malawi and Mozambique. Routledge.
McInerney-Lankford, S., & Sano, H. O. (2021). Human rights indicators in
development:
definitions, relevance and current trends. In Critical Issues in Human Rights and
Development. Edward Elgar Publishing.
Tolley, H. (2019). The UN commission on human rights. Routledge.

20. Recommended Texts

Boersema, D. (2018). Philosophy of human rights: Theory and practice. Routledge.
Currier, A. (2018). Politicizing sex in contemporary Africa: homophobia in Malawi.
Cambridge
University Press.
Ibhawoh, B. (2018). Human rights in Africa. Cambridge University Press.
Lewis, B. (2018). Environmental Human Rights and Climate Change. Springer.