The politics of human rights

Abstract

The chapter addresses the phrase ‘The Politics of Humans Rights’ by taking up two seemingly disparate dimensions of Brown’s work on human rights. First, the question of the grounding of human rights in the light of Brown’s recent work on human rights and human nature. Second, the international politics of, and prospects for, the project of human rights in respect of Brown’s reflection on post-Cold War changes to the distribution of global power. The chapter offers both an account of the relationship of these two foci and a critical examination of Brown’s arguments in the context of wider debates on human rights.