Michael Ignatieff draws on his extensive experience as a writer and commentator on world affairs to present a penetrating account of the successes, failures, and prospects of the human rights revolution. Since the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, this revolution has brought the world moral progress and broken the nation-state's monopoly on the conduct of international affairs. But it has also faced challenges. Ignatieff argues that human rights activists have rightly drawn criticism from Asia, the Islamic world, and within the West itself for being overambitious and unwilling to accept limits. It is now time, he writes, for activists to embrace a more modest agenda and to reestablish the balance between the rights of states and the rights of citizens. Ignatieff begins by examining the politics of human rights, assessing when it is appropriate to use the fact of human rights abuse to justify intervention in other countries. He then explores the ideas that underpin human rights, warning that human rights must not become an idolatry.
In the spirit of Isaiah Berlin, he argues that human rights can command universal assent only if they are design
- ISBN10 6613371866
- ISBN13 9786613371867
- Publish Date 20 December 2011 (first published 28 October 2001)
- Publish Status Active
- Out of Print 14 March 2012
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Princeton University Press
- Format eBook
- Pages 216
- Language English