Human Rights Futures

With authoritarian states and global culture wars threatening human rights, this volume weighs hopes the for effective human rights advocacy.

Stephen Hopgood (Edited by), Jack Snyder (Edited by), Leslie Vinjamuri (Edited by)

9781316644164, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 4 January 2018

354 pages, 15 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15 x 2 cm, 0.52 kg

'This timely collection dares to imagine the future for human rights in a world where liberal internationalism is under challenge from many corners. It features detailed evidence that the impact of human rights promotion remains pervasive, as well as arguments that question its power and lament the minimalist ambition that has underpinned it over the past half century. The book is essential reading for those who want to transcend both categorical dismissals and defenses to achieve a deeper understanding of human rights processes and outcomes, as well as the conditions that enable the 'everyday success' of human rights promotion in the twenty-first century.' Jennifer Welsh, European University Institute, Florence

For the first time in one collected volume, mainstream and critical human rights scholars together examine the empirical and normative debates around the future of human rights. They ask what makes human rights effective, what strategies will enhance the chances of compliance, what blocks progress, and whether the hope for human rights is entirely misplaced in a rapidly transforming world. Human Rights Futures sees the world as at a crucial juncture. The project for globalizing rights will either continue to be embedded or will fall backward into a maelstrom of nationalist backlash, religious resurgence and faltering Western power. Each chapter talks directly to the others in an interactive dialogue, providing a theoretical and methodological framework for a clear research agenda for the next decade. Scholars, graduate students and practitioners of political science, history, sociology, law and development will find much to both challenge and provoke them in this innovative book.

1. Introduction: human rights: past, present and future Stephen Hopgood, Jack Snyder and Leslie Vinjamuri
2. Human rights data, processes, and outcomes: how recent research points to a better future Geoffrey Dancy and Kathryn Sikkink
3. Human rights and human welfare: looking for a 'dark side' to international human rights law Beth A. Simmons and Anton Strezhnev
4. Empowering rights through mass movements, religion, and reform parties Jack Snyder
5. Human rights backlash Leslie Vinjamuri
6. Human rights in areas of limited statehood: from the spiral model to localization and translation Thomas Risse
7. Grounding the backlash: regional security treaties, counternorms and human rights in Eurasia Alexander Cooley and Matthew Schaaf
8. Governing religion as right Elizabeth Shakman Hurd
9. The vernacularization of women's human rights Sally Engle Merry and Peggy Levitt
10. Re-framing human rights advocacy: the rise of economic rights Shareen Hertel
11. Human rights and the crisis of liberalism Samuel Moyn
12. Human rights on the road to nowhere Stephen Hopgood
13. Conclusion: human rights futures Stephen Hopgood, Jack Snyder and Leslie Vinjamuri.

Subject Areas: Human rights [JPVH], International institutions [JPSN], International relations [JPS], Political science & theory [JPA]