Moral and Political Conceptions of Human Rights
Implications for Theory and Practice

Human rights can be understood as moral or political. This volume shows how this distinction matters for theory and practice.

Reidar Maliks (Edited by), Johan Karlsson Schaffer (Edited by)

9781107153974, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 25 July 2017

312 pages
23.5 x 15.3 x 2 cm, 0.56 kg

'This splendid book discusses the recent moral-political divide in human rights approaches and offers an advancement of a philosophical theory of human rights enriching human rights practice and legal theory.' Elena V. Shabliy, Journal on European History of Law

In recent years, political philosophers have debated whether human rights are a special class of moral rights we all possess simply by virtue of our common humanity and which are universal in time and space, or whether they are essentially modern political constructs defined by the role they play in an international legal-political practice that regulates the relationship between the governments of sovereign states and their citizens. This edited volume sets out to further this debate and move it ahead by rethinking some of its fundamental premises and applying it to new and challenging domains, such as socio-economic rights, indigenous rights, the rights of immigrants and the human rights responsibilities of corporations. Beyond the philosophy of human rights, the book has a broader relevance by contributing to key themes in the methodology of political philosophy and addressing urgent issues in contemporary global policy making.

Expanding the debate on moral and political approaches to the philosophy of human rights Johan Karlsson Schaffer and Reidar Maliks
Part I: 1. Theory, politics, and practice: methodological pluralism in the philosophy of human rights Kristen Hessler
2. The point of the practice of human rights: international concern or domestic empowerment? Johan Karlsson Schaffer
3. Rawl's relational conception of human rights Luise Katharina Müller
4. Theories of human rights: political or orthodox - why it matters Andreas Follesdal
5. Mediating the theory and practice of human rights in morality and law David Ingram
6. Kantian human rights or how the individual has come to matter in international law Howard Williams
Part II: 7. Human rights solidarity: moral or political? Seth Mayer
8. When the practice gets complicated: human rights, migrants and political institutions Jelena Belic
9. Can naturalistic theories of human rights accommodate the indigenous right to self-determination? Kerstin Reibold
10. Political conceptions of human rights and corporate responsibility Daniel P. Corrigan
11. Socio-economic rights: between essentialism and egalitarianism Malcolm Langford.

Subject Areas: International human rights law [LBBR], Human rights [JPVH], Political science & theory [JPA], Social & political philosophy [HPS]