| Description |
Human rights are a controversial topic between U.S. and China. Although both countries embrace the concept of human rights, they have different understandings of what constitutes human rights. These differences derive from a variety of factors, including historical, cultural, and social contexts. The Chinese and U.S. governments have had 17 face-to-face sessions of human rights dialogue, but their human rights disagreements are unlikely to disappear soon. Every year, both countries publish human rights records and criticize each other. Human rights have become a source of ideological conflict and communication schisms in U.S.-China relations. This thesis applies a constructionist perspective to examine the human rights conflict between China and the U.S. through qualitative discourse analysis of philosophical discussions, newspaper articles, and governmental records. The thesis argues that a constructionist human rights dialogue can increase mutual understanding of human rights differences between U.S. and China. |
