Human rights

pp. 217-225

in: Hossein Mesbahian, Trevor Norris, Dieter Misgeld, Rotterdam, SensePublishers, 2017

Abstract

Well, I"m honored, but I don't think I deserve it. I don't deserve to be compared with Shariati, who's been an influential political theorist in the Islamic world. When I speak of a Third World perspective it's just a corrective over and against the exaggerated Euro-centeredness, or the preoccupation with the well being of the better off countries in the World, who for the moment are in the West. I don't have a thesis of the decline of the West. I used this as a kind of hook to hang my discussion on at my retirement event, but I don't think the West is declining, though I don't think it has the energy to maintain a global leadership in the long run.