Edward Elgar Publishing Human Rights: Old Problems, New Possibilities

Reflecting on the various dichotomies through which human rights have traditionally been understood, this book takes account of recent developments in both theories of rights and in international human rights law to present new ways of thinking about some long-standing problems. Leading legal and political philosophers, social theorists and scholars of international law discuss traditional dilemmas and taxonomies in human rights theory, engaging with contemporary scholarship and current practice. The book examines various tensions, such as those between legal and moral rights, positive and negative rights, universal and particular rights, and group and individual rights. Encouraging new thinking about conventional understandings of human rights, this book will strongly appeal to international lawyers, legal and political philosophers, as well as graduate students and upper-level undergraduate students in law and philosophy. Review 'The book sets out to interrogate and challenge many of the distinctions drawn in the human rights discourse; but it also highlights and critiques the different and incomplete ways in which legal philosophers and international lawyers see human rights. These issues are dealt with by some of the leading - and most readable - authors in the field.' --Christof Heyns, University of Pretoria, South Africa and UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions This volume will make a lasting contribution to how we address the dilemmas that human rights theory and practice encounter for instance, between democracy and human rights, negative and positive rights, or individual and group rights. Philosophers have become indispensable to lawyers' arguments about why human rights matter, and how they must be interpreted: this book superbly illustrates why. --Olivier De Schutter, University of Louvain, Belgium and United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food About the Author Edited by David Kinley, Professor of Human Rights Law, Wojciech Sadurski, Challis Professor of Jurisprudence and Kevin Walton, University of Sydney, Australia