Bait and Switch

Reviews / Votes

"Mertus provides a stark indictment of the slippage between American rhetoric and American action on international human rights, showing how partisan selectivity and double standards pervaded American policy even before September 11. More generally, the book examines the ways in which international norms can get lost in the translation into domestic practice, challenging some comfortable orthodoxy about the depth and breadth of the spread of an international human rights culture."

-Jack Donnelly, author, Universal Human Rights in Theory and Practice, and Andrew Mellon Professor, Graduate School of International Studies, University of Denver

"Scholars and practitioners seeking to understand the stark differences between the pious rhetoric and prosaic reality of U.S. human rights policy need look no further than this insightful and readable volume by Julie Mertus. As the changes and ramifications of U.S. foreign policy are subjected to scrutiny in both the media and classroom, nothing could be more timely than this critical examination of not only the executive branch and the military but NGOs as well."

--Thomas G. Weiss, Presidential Professor of Political Science and Director of the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The CUNY Graduate Center

"Mertus argues that 'something is seriously awry with the way the U.S. "does" human rights.' Coming from a scholar who expected to come to a much more positive conclusion regarding U.S. human rights policy, this is a serious indictment. Bait and Switch is an important book that should be read by anyone interested in the growing gulf between how the United States sees itself and how other nations and peoples see it."

--Anne-Marie Slaughter, Dean, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University

"Mertus's indictment of U.S. human rights behavior is more devastating in this updated text. An 'arch' unilateralist executive, the breakdown in military command, and competitive civil society have led to intense hatred of the U.S. and contributed to greater insecurity. A stunning assessment of human rights behavior during the Global War on Terrorism."

--Karen A. Mingst, Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky