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Professor James Gomez, Webster University, gives a public lecture on "Why there is a Cultural Dimension to Human Rights and Democracy Discourses in Southeast Asia?" in the Studia Generalia lecture series on Wednesday, 23 April at 4 p.m. in room A222.

About the lecture

This presentation maps and analyses the competing discourses over democracy and human rights norms in Southeast Asia. The speaker will identify three key discourses emanating from a set of international standards, national governments policies and procedures as well as advocacy positions promoted by both global and local civil society. These discourses, the speaker will argue, collectively shape the democratization processes and the, inter-governmental human rights regime in the context of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It is this politics of competing discourses and their complex interactions that bring a cultural dimension to democracy and human rights in the region. The speaker will argue that human rights commentators seeking to understand the emergence of human rights norms, the implementation of human institutions and their capacity to protect human rights in the region, need to understand these competing discourses and how they come to bear on the evolving ASEAN human rights regime. This raises the largely question of where the trajectory of democratic development in the region is heading to and how it relates to diversity and integration within ASEAN.
  

Studia Generalia is a series of lectures that consists of public lectures delivered by the teachers, researchers and visiting lecturers of Tallinn University. Anyone who enters the University building can listen to what prominent thinkers have to say on current topics that affect the society, and also participate in the discussion. Anyone from or outside of Tallinn University is welcome to participate. Students can obtain two credits upon hearing the whole series. Participation is free of charge. 

Tallinn University Studia Generalia – a broader view of the world!