The West, Economic and Social Rights, and the Global Human Rights Regime: Setting the Record Straight

This article challenges the widespread belief that Western countries have been antagonistic to economic and social human rights. Examining wartime planning, drafting the Universal Declaration and the Covenants, and the development of functional regimes for money, trade, and workers' rights as well as the European regional human rights regime, we show that Western advocacy of economic and social rights was strong, consistent, and essential to creating the post-war international order, which was intended to consolidate and strengthen Western welfare states. We conclude by considering the sources of the myth of Western opposition and its contemporary implications.