Introduction

This book seeks to encourage the continuing promotion of human rights as an integral aspect of global politics and law. To be credible, such an undertaking must confront a series of problematic and controversial issues. At the center of these investigations is the judgment that the sovereign state is changing course due primarily to the widespread adoption of neoliberal approaches to governmental function. Yet it is necessary to qualify this generalization. The role of the state is changing in response to a transformed global setting, but not uniformly. States are very differently situated and endowed, and have at their disposal a wide range of adjustment strategies and capabilities. Nevertheless, there exists a broad cumulative trend toward the social disempowerment of the state. This trend encourages privatesector "solutions" to such social issues as poverty, unemployment, and alienation, including the emergence of billionaire philanthropy as practiced by such exemplary figures as Ted Turner, George Soros, and Bill Gates.