By Marie-Bénédicte Dembour

Description

Many people believe passionately in human rights. Others - Bentham, Marx, cultural relativists and some feminists amongst them - dismiss the concept of human rights as practically and conceptually inadequate. This book reviews these classical critiques and shows how their insights are reflected in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights. At one level an original, accessible and insightful legal commentary on the European Convention, this book is also a groundbreaking work of theory which challenges human rights orthodoxy. Its novel identification of four human rights schools proposes that we alternatively conceive of these rights as given (natural school), agreed upon (deliberative school), fought for (protest school) and talked about (discourse school). Which of these concepts we adopt is determined by particular ways in which we believe, or do not believe, in human rights.

• Reviews classical critiques of human rights in an accessible way which does not presume previous knowledge of theory • Reviews and comments on selected case law of the European Court of Human Rights in an accessible and original way, and brings to the fore questions which are generally ignored. Offers a groundbreaking theoretical mapping of human rights scholarship, so the most sophisticated human rights expert/theoretician will find something new in the book. • Directly links theory (in the form of classical critiques) and practice (in the form of Strasbourg case law), making it possible for readers to understand the practical significance of theoretical issues

Contents

Table of cases; 1. Introduction; 2. The Convention in outline; 3. The Convention in a realist light; 4. The Convention in a utilitarian light; 5. The Convention in a Marxist light; 6. The Convention in a particularist light; 7. The Convention in a feminist light; 8. The human rights creed in four schools; 9. Conclusion: In praise of human rights nihilism; Appendices; Select bibliography; Index .

Reviews

\\\'There are thousands of books on human rights, hundreds on human rights law. This one will stand out as one of the very best.\\\' Adam Tomkins, John Millar Professor of Public Law, University of Glasgow

\\\'More Europeans believe in human rights than believe in God. Their oracle - at Strasbourg, not Delphi - is tended by a priesthood of judges and law professors culled from 46 countries, divining the basic rights of humankind. The author provides a valuable and necessary critique of their work, as it is beginning to affect the lives of millions previously downtrodden by state power in Russia and Eastern Europe.\\\' Geoffrey Robertson QC

\\\'This precious work illuminates the rather normatively dense, and often darkening, landscapes of the European human rights law and jurisprudence and carries some profound and immense messages for the construction of comparative, and compassionate, social theory of, and action for, human rights. \\\' Upendra Baxi, Professor of Law, University of Warwick

\\\'Demour brilliantly challenges lazy assumptions about the universal and natural character of human rights. Her command of European Court jurisprudence allied with her broad knowledge of Western philosophy makes this a tour de force in legal and political anthropology.\\\' John Bowen, Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts & Sciences, Washington University, St Louisf

Published Year: 2006 Format: Paper Back ISBN: 9780521683074 Publisher: Cambridge University Press No of Pages: 338 Our Price: US $ 63.00 Reviews: 0 reivew(s).

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