William Felice, a human rights and international law professor at Eckerd College, spoke about the influence of his book, The New Global Deal, Wednesday night.

The lecture was co-sponsored by UT’s Global Studies Interdisciplinary Program and the Department of Sociology. Felice, a former representative to the United Nations for a human rights non-governmental organization, gave a brief overview of The New Global Deal and explained his take on global issues.

He hopes the book will challenge the current ways of thinking as it addresses problems like poverty, social rights, global public goods and inequality.

We have seen many failures in the human rights architecture of the United Nations, but one of the successes has been the drafting of the International Human Rights Law. -William Felice, Eckerd College professor

“We have seen many failures in the human rights architecture of the United Nations, but one of the successes has been the drafting of the International Human Rights Law,” Felice said as he described current policies. “I call it a success because what we have seen is a real cross-cultural dialogue that has taken place across boundaries."

Temple Duke, a freshman in economics and global studies, agreed with Felice about his views on women’s rights.

“He talked about ways women can empower themselves, and how we need to have a cross-cultural discussion about changing norms and morals that is still respectful in a religious way, but at the same time increases the quality of life for people who have been traditionally and systematically repressed,” Duke said.

Felice summarized his “A Global New Deal” proposal by stating that nations working together  to promote economic equality, finance global public goods, maintain ecological balance, prioritize women’s rights, and affirm international human rights laws will benefit globally.

The author concluded his lecture with an example: if each country reallocated 20% of their existing budget to global public goods, $70-80 billion would be raised each year to address economic equality across the globe.

The UT Global Studies Program sponsors several events related to political, economic or social issues each school year. Information can be found on the UT Events Calendar or on the Global Studies Program website.