From Aspiration To Obligation: The Evolving Right to Education in International Law
Leighton, Seth M.
2011
- Submitted in partial fulfillment of the degree of Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to examine the emergence of international legal norms concerning education, the extent to which these norms place obligations on states, and the impact of international organizations on clarifying and strengthening these norms. A ... read morereview of international conventions and declarations concerning education reveals: 1) the repetition and gradual acceptance of certain norms on a global scale, including compulsory free primary education and outcomes related to student learning; 2) the steady expansion of educational rights assured under international law, coming at the cost of clarity and obligatory force; and 3) the increasing difficulty of monitoring and enforcing compliance with educational norms. This paper argues that the operational activities of international organizations have served to clarify several areas of ambiguity in the conventions and declarations by building systems of measurement and developing shared bodies of knowledge. In doing so, they have also influenced the behavior of states to comply with international norms through a mixture of persuasion and acculturation. On the global level, an aspiration has been clearly expressed for education to serve as the means for the individual to rise above the circumstances of his or her birth. The progress made in clarifying and measuring these norms provides a measure of hope that these aspirations are evolving into realizable international obligation.read less
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- zw12zg901
- Component ID:
- tufts:UA015.012.079.00009
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