Human Rights Pragmatism
Problems of Structure and Agency
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10379185 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Jack Snyder (0000-0003-1256-0673, Columbia University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 139 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 21-34 |
| Publication date | 2023-12-21 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Political Science Quarterly (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0032-3195 • E-ISSN: 1538-165X |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1093/psquar/qqad123 |
| OpenAlex | W4390062168 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 4 |
Mainstream human rights activists typically attribute the signature successes of their movement (e.g., antislavery, Gandhi, Martin Luther King) to their uncompromisingly principled stance on behalf of the weak and the exploited. Naming and shaming and ending impunity loom large in their lore. This attitude works well to recruit idealistic activists, but their moralism, legalism, and secular universalism miss the central role of the self-interest of the majority in powering the progress of human rights. A core of idealists has defined aspirational goals, but progress has depended on support from majority mass movements and reform parties that gained power through expedient compromise. The human rights enterprise is now facing fierce pushback from illiberal strongmen and populists who counter-shame the liberal order as decadent, degenerate, and threatening to deeply rooted values. Too often, contemporary rights rhetoric plays into the hands of these illiberal critics. Human Rights for Pragmatists explains how rights-based societies can recover a more accurate narrative of their past pragmatic successes, repair their tactical flaws, and withstand illiberal challenges
Compromise · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Fundamental rights · Human rights · Human rights movement · Law and economics · Mainstream · Morality · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · Pragmatism · Rhetoric · Right to property · Sociology · Theology · Universalism · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Judicial and Constitutional Studies · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics
| Highly cited | No |
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