The Subject of Human Rights
From the Unencumbered Self to the Relational Self
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12965296 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrew Fagan (0000-0001-7375-8259, University of Essex, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2024 |
| Volume | 42 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 215-233 |
| Publication date | 2024-04-02 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Nordic Journal of Human Rights (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1891-814X • E-ISSN: 1891-8131 |
| Publisher | Taylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/18918131.2024.2339012 |
| OpenAlex | W4396496753 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
The divisive character of a large part of identity politics creates enormous challenges which have yet to be satisfactorily engaged with from within human rights circles. This article addresses an area of human rights theory and practice that is in urgent need of critical attention: the prevailing human-rights-based response to identity politics, namely recognition rights that eschew social class. I shall argue that human rights has vitally important contributions to make to protecting those who are vulnerable because of their self-affirmed or imposed identities. However, I shall also argue that human rights' engagement with identity politics is significantly limited in key areas. Human rights remains deeply influenced by an overly individualist ideal of the individual rights holder, which limits its ability to effectively engage with what I see as a key challenge of our age: identity politics wielded in divisive ways. I shall argue that what is largely missing from human rights' engagement with identity politics is an understanding of the subject of rights as relational. My article asks the human rights community to radically rethink and begin to reshape its efforts to engage with the challenge of identity
Aesthetics · Environmental ethics · Fundamental rights · Human rights · Identity (music · Identity politics · Individualism · Law and economics · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Subject (documents · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Law · Philosophy · Political Philosophy and Ethics · Political Theology and Sovereignty
| Citations per year | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Highly cited | No |