Book Review: Individualism versus Collectivism; The Concept of Collective Rights
| Date | 01 March 1994 |
| Published date | 01 March 1994 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419401200114 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: DocumentationBook Review |
Documentation
Secretariat, has noted in this respect that the main disadvantage of quotas is that they
encourage a view that the employment of people with disabilities is a constraint,
something no employer would willingly undertake without a degree of compulsion (J.D.
McBrain, Preface, Employment policies for people with disabilities, OECD, Paris 1992,
p. xii). Policy makers and legislators in the USA, Australia and Canada have therefore
opted for positive incentives and affirmative action programmes that are thought to be
more successful.
At the end
of
the book, Gerard Quinn briefly summarizes the main findings of the
various chapters. Although he does not explicitly recommend the adoption of anti-
discrimination or equality discrimination laws, he clearly outlines the conditions such laws
should at least fulfil. He neither burns his fingers in recommending one
of
the three
models to be followed.
The
laws in each of the three countries have their own advantages
and disadvantages. They build on different legal traditions and should be seen in their
entirety.
The
implicit recommendation therefore seems to be that they can serve as a
source
of
inspiration for others - legislators, legal scholars, etc. -
but
are not meant to
be blindly copied.
My overall judgement over this book is highly positive. Despite some shortcomings
and improper use of language (asthma 'sufferer' (p. 50), sexual 'behaviour disorders' (p.
49»,
the authors have successfully accomplished their mission, namely to produce a
concise outline
of
disability discrimination laws in three different jurisdictions that can
serve as a source of information and inspiration for all those concerned about the position
for people with disabilities in our societies.
It
is to be hoped that the - often promising
-experience gained in the USA, Australia and Canada will indeed lead to the adjustment
of the laws affecting individuals in many other jurisdictions.
Marlies Galenkamp, Individualism versus Collectivism; The Concept
of
Collective
Rights,
Ph.D.
thesis, RFS, Rotterdam 1993 *
About having a cake
and
eating it at the same time
Introducing the subject
of
the present book, I use some words of the author herself: 'In
the last few decades we have witnessed a highly interesting development in the field of
international legal practice, especially where human rights are concerned. United Nations
human rights organs have proclaimed collective rights, rights which collectivities should
have as a collectivity in order to protect their threatened collective interests. (... ) By
explicitely paying attention to the collective dimension of human existence, it is hoped that
the introduction
of
collective rights may provide a communal rectification of the formerly
too individualistic rights approach. In this respect, one may say that the new practice of
collective rights aims at a rehabilitation of the ineradicable social setting in which human
rights are ever embedded' (p. 13). These well chosen words give a good picture of some
basic aspects of the concept of collective rights, which the author intends to analyse in her
Ph.D. thesis.
Starting the review, I limit myself to a general reproduction of some main
characteristics
of
the book, in order to make substantive room for some points of
discussion. As far as her approach to the problem of the collective rights is concerned,
*Willem van Genugten, Professor of Human Rights, Nijrnegen University; Associate Professor of
International Law, TiIburg University
103
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