Author ORCID Identifier
Semester
Spring
Date of Graduation
2026
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Type
MA
College
Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Department
History
Committee Chair
James Siekmeier
Committee Member
Sean Lawrence
Committee Member
Michael Allen
Abstract
Human universality has always stood as a controversial subject and remains politically contentious today. Following the humanitarian crisis of World War II, the international community was determined to protect the integrity and dignity of people worldwide by developing the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights. However, universal human rights were not invented by the Declaration and were already conceptually established in global ancient thought, further evolved into Early Modern scholarship, and later paved the way for modern humanitarian frameworks. The UDHR was not universally well-received, and was criticized for its revolutionary legal character, postcolonial contestation, and practical ambiguity. The environmental aspect of basic human rights is of special importance to this study as the universal factor that conditions and predetermines the basic human rights of a people in the respective region; to exist, one needs somewhere to exist. The need for reform and subsequent recommendations are proposed in the study based on best and worst human rights practices identified through the United Nations’ institutional history, archival entries, and the Russian-Ukrainian conflict case study, including first-hand accounts of the impacted population.
Recommended Citation
Novytska, Sofiia, "UNsuccessful? Universal Human Rights and the United Nations: Russian Imperialism in Ukraine and the Post-UDHR International System" (2026). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 13226.
https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/13226
Included in
Diplomatic History Commons, International Humanitarian Law Commons, Political History Commons, Slavic Languages and Societies Commons