'Real thinking': American human rights diplomacy and the Perils of Anti-Emotionalism, 1950-1980/

BURKE Roland

'Real thinking': American human rights diplomacy and the Perils of Anti-Emotionalism, 1950-1980/ Roland Burke - 2020

This analysis investigates the place of emotion within the United States human rights diplomacy, arguing that a persistent and self-conscious aversion to 'emotionalism' shaped American engagement with human rights and humanitarian questions across the 1950s and early 1960s. For an extended period, particularly within the United Nations, an insistent emphasis on the rituals of 'reason' was a significant impediment to the effective pursuit of American priorities in the human rights sphere. Whilst few prior to the mid-1960s, moments where emotion was recognised and embraced as integral increased by the 1970s, demonstrating its potential to advance human rights policy.


UNITED NATIONS--UN--HUMAN RIGHTS--WORLD