Torture is indisputably abhorrent. Why, you might ask, would you even want to think or read about torture? That is a very good question, and one this book addresses in a compelling and enlightening way. Torture is a very important issue, not least because millions of people around the world have been subjected to this […]
Surrendering to Utopia is a critical and wide-ranging study of anthropology’s contributions to human rights. Providing a unique window into the underlying political and intellectual currents that have shaped human rights in the postwar period, this ambitious work opens up new opportunities for research, analysis, and political action. At the book’s core, the author describes a […]
This volume is a comprehensive and authoritative comparative analysis which asks whether Muslim States can comply with international human rights law whilst adhering to Islamic law. The traditional arguments on this subject are examined and responded to from both international human rights and Islamic legal perspectives. Through this analysis, it offers a clear vision of […]
The language of human rights has become the public vocabulary of our contemporary world. Ironically, as the political influence of human rights has grown, their philosophical justification has become ever more controversial. Building on a theory of discourse ethics and communicative rationality, this book addresses the politics and philosophy of human rights against the background […]
Human Rights Watch is increasingly recognized as the world’s leader in building a stronger awareness for human rights. Their annual World Report is the most probing review of human rights developments available anywhere. Written in straightforward, non-technical language, Human Rights Watch World Report prioritizes events in the most affected countries during the previous year. The backbone […]
Has there always been an inalienable “right to have rights” as part of the human condition, as Hannah Arendt famously argued? The contributions to this volume examine how human rights came to define the bounds of universal morality in the course of the political crises and conflicts of the twentieth century. Although human rights are […]
The concept of human rights has a long history. Its practical origins, as distinct from its theoretical antecedents, are said to be comparatively recent, going back no further than the American and French Bills of Rights of the eighteenth century. Even those landmarks are seen as little more than the precursors of the twentieth century […]
This book draws on key theories and methods from the social sciences to develop a framework for the systematic study of human rights problems. It argues that solid empirical analysis of human rights problems rests on examining the observable practices from state and non-state actors that constitute human rights violations to provide plausible explanations for […]
Only a few hundred years ago there emerged the ideal of inalienable rights to life, liberty, property, free speech, freedom of conscience and religion. Yet rights now are routinely claimed to include health care, employment, housing, and education; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights even lists paid vacations. Are rights bestowed by government, or do […]
Inspired by a 1988 trip to El Salvador, Michael J. Perry’s new book is a personal and scholarly exploration of the idea of human rights. Perry is one of our nation’s leading authorities on the relation of morality, including religious morality, to politics and law. He seeks, in this book, to disentangle the complex idea […]
