America First and the Human Rights Regime

Last week, Journal of Human Rights published online my new article coauthored with Kurt Mills, "America First and the Human Rights Regime." This week, it already appeared in print! 

This is the citation:

Kurt Mills & Rodger A. Payne (2020) America First and the human rights regime, Journal of Human Rights, 19:4, 399-424, DOI: 10.1080/14754835.2020.1809362 

And this is the Abstract

Donald Trump’s populist, nationalist “America First” agenda advocates a transactional, zero-sum, hypercompetitive, and sovereigntist view of US foreign policy, which many scholars and policymakers conclude poses a considerable challenge to multilateralism. We explore the threat America First presents to the international human rights regime as reflected in important institutions and norms. We survey America First policies regarding immigration and refugee norms as well as norms prohibiting torture and war crimes. We examine its position on the UN Human Rights Commission and the International Criminal Court, consider Trump’s sympathies for autocratic governments, and explore the development of the Commission on Unalienable Rights. Finally, we explain why the America First norm transgressions pose a novel threat to the human rights regime, potentially more worrisome than prior US norm violations. America First’s performative element risks reconstituting US identity as an outsider state, if not an outlaw, vis-à-vis the international community.

Regular readers may recall that this piece was tied to my Global Scholar appointment at University of Dundee in May-June 2019, when I was on sabbatical. 

If you want to read it and don't have access, let me know. I have a pdf and I have a link for up to 50 readers online. 

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Dundee Events

I've just returned from my month in the UK, most of it spent in Scotland at University of Dundee. I had 25 nights in Dundee -- 17 initially, then a conference in London (3 nights) and a short personal trip (2 nights in Brighton and 1 in Edinburgh), followed by 8 additional nights in Dundee.

On June 6, just about a week after I delivered my Masterclass on "Re-imagining World Order in the Age of Trump," Kurt Mills hosted a workshop on "America First, International Law, and the Human Rights Regime." I gave a truncated version of my research on America First and Multilateralism:

.⁦@RodgerPayne⁩ kicking us off, speaking about America First: Surveying the Damage. ⁦@ISSRDundee⁩ pic.twitter.com/T21wqaOuqD

— Kurt Mills (@ProfKurtMills) June 6, 2019

From June 12-14, I was in London for the British International Studies Association Annual Meeting. I'll write a separate post about my presentation ("An Alliance for Multilateralists: Foolish Fantasy or Practical Necessity?") and my intellectual experiences attending panels and talking to UK IR scholars. Oh, I also plan to post another entry about some of the tourism I managed to enjoy in Scotland and London.

On June 24, I gave a talk on "America First and the Human Rights Regime" at the third annual Institute for Social Sciences Research Forum, held at Discovery Point in Dundee:

Final session of the day - #Keynotes
Professor Nick Fyfe, Dean, Social Sciences introduces @RodgerPayne #globalscholar speaking on all things America and Human Rights #ISSR2019 @ProfKurtMills pic.twitter.com/03ms3wwBp4

The trip was terrific intellectually and Kurt Mills and I are preparing a manuscript for a conference and then submission to a peer-reviewed journal.

— ISSR | DundeeUni (@ISSRDundee) June 24, 2019

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"Masterclass"

I gave a two hour "masterclass" at University of Dundee today. My host Kurt Mills tweeted about it and the Institute for Social Science Research commented:

Thanks to all students and staff who attended the #issrglobalscholar masterclass today @RodgerPayne @UoD_ESW @CEPMLP @LawDundee @UoDBusiness. equally delighted to have hosted a couple from @univofstandrews too! #researchmatters https://t.co/cZ80emA2mM

— ISSR | DundeeUni (@ISSRDundee) May 30, 2019

I also added this comment in response to Kurt's tweet:

Thanks. I very much appreciated the strong turnout, including @ProfKurtMills and @Scott_AW_Brown . Plenty of good questions and comments to make me sharpen @MYBISA paper. https://t.co/1Rp3YZW2uc

— Rodger Payne (@RodgerPayne) May 30, 2019

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Scotland!

I've been waiting to receive authorization to share some news. This morning, my twitter feed finally provided the signal:

Pleased to be welcoming @RodgerPayne next month to @dundeeuni to collaborate on Trump, international law, and human rights https://t.co/t93hZQUjDO

— Kurt Mills (@ProfKurtMills) April 24, 2019

After those tweets appeared, I posted one that I had been holding in reserve:

News: Very pleased to have been named a 2019 Visiting Global Scholar by @ISSRDundee and will be collaborating on-site in late spring with @ProfKurtMills on a project: "America First and the Human Rights Regime." https://t.co/GPbGzDOeF8 https://t.co/KJBW810Ogn

— Rodger Payne (@RodgerPayne) April 24, 2019

This pdf has bios of the 5 Global Scholars for 2019.

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Touring Scotland

As you might have noticed in my twitter feed (in the right-hand column), I was in Scotland August 4-8 and again August 12-15. The first week, three-fourths of my family was in Edinburgh attending the annual Fringe Festival. Our youngest daughter, though a recent graduate, was performing in a production with her high school theater company. They staged "Our Town, Louisville" four times over the course of the week.

You can see some photos and a playbill here for their show, cleverly "derived" from Thornton Wilder's "Our Town":

YPAS performs Our Town Louisville #fringefestival pic.twitter.com/wHGS1HVwy7
— Tracy Morrison (@tdmorrison1234) July 26, 2014

In Edinburgh, my wife and I had a busy week. For example, it was exhausting and exhilarating walking the Royal Mile during Fringe:

We also visited the famous castle. The blue seats outside it are for the nightly Royal Military Tattoo, which my daughter's high school group attended:

This was one of the highlights of the National Museum of Scotland. It's one of Jackie Stewart's cars (they had at least two on display):

After a journey south over the weekend to Brighton to attend a baptism for the latest twins in the family, a nephew and niece, I returned to Dundee, Scotland for the Words and Images conference I blogged about last week.

The first night, I visited the BrewDog and had a tasty pint of Punk IPA. I had actually already had a pint in the Hanging Bat, a fine beer cafe in Edinburgh.

The second night, I attended a Scotch tasting organized as an "extra" for the conference. Here's the setup before the event:

After the tasting, we watched Ken Loach's "The Angel's Share" and tasted some beer. I tried the Joker IPA, of course, given that my Batman paper focused on "The Dark Knight." 

Earlier on Wednesday, I visited the "Yes" hub in Dundee. The guy I talked to assured me that "yes" on Scottish independence referendum was going to win in Dundee and he thought it would win in all of Scotland. The vote is September 18. I'm curious as a political scientist, but I obviously don't really know enough to comment about the issues or the predicted victory:

I may blog a bit more about Scottish nationalism if I get a chance. This image hangs in the National Museum in Edinburgh:

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