Critical Theory and Human Rights

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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 shows that contemporary human rights practice is increasingly managerial in nature, with the focus shifting from the individual rights-holder to the activities of the duty-bearer, be it the state, international organisations, or business. The result is a preoccupation with achieving measured improvements within abstract groups such as the population or "stakeholders, " while the individual rights-holder becomes relevant only as a datapoint in a larger grouping. Analysing this trend and its consequences, the book 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. 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. It is unsurprising that this alienating discourse has failed to capture the popular imagination. The book concludes that if the human rights movement is to succeed it may be necessary for it to do less rather than more.