I Book Review: Economic Rights in Canada and the United States
| Published date | 01 June 2007 |
| Date | 01 June 2007 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934410702500212 |
| Subject Matter | Part D: DocumentationI Book Review |
Netherlands Q uarterly of Human R ights, Vol. 25/2, 373–393, 2007.
© Netherlands I nstitute of Human Rig hts (SIM), Printed in the Net herlands. 373
PART D: DOCUMENTATION
I BOOK REVIEWS
Rhoda E. Howard-Has smann and Claude E. Welch, Jr. (eds), Economic Rights in
Canada and the United States, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia,
2006, 276 p., ISBN: 978– 0-8122–3925–6*1
e present volume is an in-depth and deta iled study of the lack of realisat ion of basic
economic and social rights i n the US and Canada. e group of authors is a mi xed
one: in addition to one or two lawyers, one may nd political scientists, s ociologists,
representatives from grass-root orga nisations and even one or two authors wit h a
bac kgrou nd of h avi ng bee n poor them selve s. e book i s comp osed of fou r par ts. P art
I deals with t he philosophical, legal a nd political aspects of ec onomic and social rights.
e second part conta ins three chapters on aspects of poverty in the US a nd Canada
and the relationship to economic rights. Pa rt III presents some interesti ng chapters
on topical issues, such as hea lth care issues i n Canada and the US and the situation
of migrant workers and immigrants in both cou ntries. Finally, part IV, by way of
comparison, contains one chapter on a European country, namely the Netherlands.
One of the aims of the present volume is to engage in a k ind of self-re ection on the
problems that hinder implementation of economic and social rights in Canada and
the US. is exercise is undertaken as a response to criticism coming from the South
that Western scholars o en cr iticise human rights violations in developing countries
without researching abus es in their own societies. e focus of t his book is, therefore,
on structura l social and political conditions underlying human rights abuses and
on values and views about economic and social rights in t he US and Canada and
less on a discussion of lega l standards a nd their judicial application. is is a highly
interesting and refresh ing approach. As the editors state, it is not the purpose of the
book to compare Canada to the US ex plicitly. Although both countries are si milar in
their economic and democratic str ucture, they are di erent as to political culture a nd
ethnic str ucture. For example, with regard to politic al culture, Canadians a re said to
be more inclined to subscribe to communitarian ideas and civic obligations towards
all than US cit izens who are rm believers in equa lity of opportunity and individua l
responsibility. Also Canad a, until rather recently, was much more homogeneous in the
composition of its population than t he US which is a real melting-pot. However, these
di erences shou ld not get too much emphasis in the editors’ view. What is cruc ial is that
both countries a re capitalist societies with i nherent social and economic inequalitie s
* Fons Coomans, C entre for Human Rights , Maastricht Universit y, the Netherlands.
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