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The United States sees itself as a country founded on the norms of equality under the law and inalienable rights but the modern reality is quite different. Police brutality in Ferguson, Executive Orders banning Muslims, protests at the Dakota Pipeline, the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, high levels of domestic violence, wage stagnation, and the lack of a right to health care, all point to a human rights crisis at home. Some scholars have even argued that, for the majority of its citizens, the United States has the standards of a “third world” country.

In which areas are the most violations of human rights occurring and why? How have long term trends, including historical legacies, contributed to the current state of affairs? This survey course will provide an overview of contemporary human rights issues in the United States and will analyze them through the theoretical lenses of scholarship in the fields of comparative politics (including social movements) and law and society. It will outline the different actors in the human rights landscape, and focus on the various forms and strategies of mobilization around human rights issues with an eye to what has helped increase the enjoyment of rights.