Description
Book SynopsisOver the last ten years, revisionists have increasingly challenged the previously accepted narrative of the history of human rights. This book brings together history, law, theology and anthropology scholars in order to revisit the debates.
Trade Review'As part of the growing interest in the history of human rights, 'Revisiting the Origins of Human Rights' offers a dizzying array of insights into how 'rights' came to be mobilized, and how context and perspective, imagination and discourse, or ideology and narrative are not just of historiographical interest: they are the very key to understanding what rights are. Indispensable reading for historians of human rights and human rights practitioners alike.' Frédéric Mégret, McGill University, Montreal
'Revisiting the Origins of Human Rights is a significant contribution to debates about the history of human rights, a field that is full of ideas and provocations. It brings together leading scholars from a range of disciplines and provides numerous original and thought-provoking insights.' Tobias Kelly, The University of Edinburgh
Table of ContentsForeword. History of human rights as political intervention in the present Martti Koskenniemi; 1. Revisiting the origins of human rights: introduction Miia Halme-Tuomisaari and Pamela Slotte; Part I. Foundations: Antiquity to the Enlightenment: 2. Human rights in antiquity? Revisiting anachronism and Roman law Jacob Giltaij and Kaius Tuori; 3. Medieval natural rights discourse Virpi Mäkinen; 4. Human rights and the Thomist tradition Annabel Brett; Part II. Pluralities of Discourses and Rights: The Enlightenment and Single-Issue Causes in the Nineteenth Century: 5. Revolutionary rights Lynn Hunt; 6. Giuseppe Mazzini in (and beyond) the history of human rights Samuel Moyn; 7. Constituting the Imperial community: rights, common good, and authority in Britain's Atlantic empire, 1607–1815 Lauren Benton and Aaron Slater; 8. Human rights discourse in women's rights conventions in the United States, 1848–70 Kathryn Kish Sklar; 9. The peace movement and human rights Martin Ceadel; 10. Socialism and the language of rights: the origins and implications of economic rights Gregory Claeys; Part III. Institutional Practices and Relations of Rights: Toward the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: 11. André Mandelstam and the internationalization of human rights (1869–1949) Dzovinar Kévonian; 12. From League of Nations mandates to decolonization: a brief history of rights Taina Tuori; 13. 'Blessed are the peacemakers': Christian internationalism, ecumenical voices and the quest for human rights Pamela Slotte; 14. Lobbying for relevance: American internationalists, French civil libertarians and the UDHR Miia Halme-Tuomisaari; 15. The Cold War and the rise of an American conception of human rights, 1945–8 Olivier Barsalou; 16. Afterword Conor Gearty.
