Critical Theory and Human Rights: From Compassion to Coercion (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781526131829)

This book describes how human rights have given rise to a vision of benevolent governance that, if fully realised, would be antithetical to individual freedom. It describes human rights' evolution into a grand but nebulous project, rooted in compassion, with the overarching aim of improving universal welfare by defining the conditions of human well-being and imposing obligations on the state and other actors to realise them. This gives rise to a form of managerialism, preoccupied with measuring and improving the 'human rights performance' of the state, businesses and so on. The ultimate result is the 'governmentalisation' of a pastoral form of global human rights governance, in which power is exercised for the general good, moulded by a complex regulatory sphere which shapes the field of action for the individual at every turn. This, unsurprisingly, does not appeal to rights-holders themselves.

Author: David McGrogan
ISBN-10: 152613182X
ISBN-13: 9781526131829
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Language: English
Published: 04/27/2021
Pages: 280
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.69d