One week ago, in the month of February, the Family Court ordered that nine-year-old Juan Rodriguez be placed in the temporary custody of a kinship caregiver—his great-aunt, Mrs. Maria Lopez. Juan’s mother, Ms. Rodriguez, lost temporary custody because she had abandoned him several times overnight while she used cocaine with friends. Ms. Rodriguez was ordered to complete inpatient treatment for cocaine dependency and depression; subsequent outpatient treatment; and parenting classes. Additionally, the Family Court ordered supervised visitation pending her discharge from outpatient treatment and would review the case in six months. Mrs. Lopez and her niece have a somewhat
What did it mean for the victors of the cold war to describe its end as a victory for human rights? In their institutional outcomes we can see obvious similarities between the “third-wave” democratizations of the late twentieth century and an earlier “age” of democratic revolution.¹ But there was also an obvious distinction: the third wave of democratizations had mostly occurred without revolutionary violence. Was it a final victory or a final defeat for human rights that they were now disentangled from the inevitable cruelties of revolutionary struggle?