Analyzes the history of public concern regarding children's rights in the 20th century. Details the political process leading to the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child, the ratification of the Convention, and its political effects, and presents hypotheses regarding determinants of the Convention's worldwide impact. Notes areas where…

Addresses the issue of children's human rights in relation to the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child that seeks to give priority to children in the adoption of individual countries' polices. Focuses on U.S. policies concerning children's' rights and introduces two different views of the impact. (CMK)