Global civil society and the society of democratic states are the two most inclusive and powerful global practices of our time. In this book, Frost claims that, without an understanding of the role that individual human rights play in these practices, no adequate understanding of any major feature of contemporary world politics from 'globalisation' to 'new wars' is possible. Constituting Human Rights, therefore argues that a concern with human rights is essential to the study of International Relations.

Global civil society and the society of democratic states are the two most inclusive and powerful global practices of our time. In this book Frost claims that, without an understanding of the role that individual human rights play in these practices, no adequate understanding of any major feature of contemporary world politics from 'globalization' to 'new wars' is possible. Therefore, Constituting Human Rights argues that a concern with human rights is essential to the study of international relations. Global civil society comprises those millions of people worldwide who claim first generation rights for themselves. By doing so they constitute one another as civilians. The language of rights used in this practice indicates that it is a practice that is open to all and without borders. Strikingly, the validity of claims made in it are not conceptually linked to any specific legal system or sovereign state. Within democratic states, however, the participants constitute one another as holders of citizenship rights, as people with a right to participate in self-government.; Frost holds that the rights claims made in this practice are only real insofar as they build on the civilian rights of the earlier practice. An understanding of the centrality of rights claims and the practices in which they are located provides a much needed guide to all of us concerned to understand contemporary international relations and concerned about ethical conduct in world affairs. This exercise in constitutive theory puts forward a powerful tool with which to tackle some of the pressing ethical issues of our time such as those to do with refugees, asylum seekers, new wars, secessionist movements, international labour practices and many more.

The emergence of transnational social movements as major actors in international politics - as witnessed in Seattle in 1999 and elsewhere - has sent shockwaves through the international system. Many questions have arisen about the legitimacy, coherence and efficiency of the international order in the light of the challenges posed by social movements. This book offers a fundamental critique of twentieth-century international law from the perspective of Third World social movements. It examines in detail the growth of two key components of modern international law - international institutions and human rights - in the context of changing historical patterns of Third World resistance. Using a historical and interdisciplinary approach, Rajagopal presents compelling evidence challenging debates on the evolution of norms and institutions, the meaning and nature of the Third World as well as the political economy of its involvement in the international system.

Together, the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights comprise the constitutional foundation of the United States. These—the oldest governing documents still in use in the world—urgently need an update, just as the constitutions of other countries have been updated and revised. Human Rights Of, By, and For the People brings together lawyers and sociologists to show how globalization and climate change offer an opportunity to revisit the founding documents. Each proposes specific changes that would more closely align US law with international law. The chapters also illustrate how constitutions are embedded in society and shaped by culture. The constitution itself sets up contentious relationships among the three branches of government and between the federal government and each state government, while the Bill of Rights and subsequent amendments begrudgingly recognize the civil and political rights of citizens. These rights are described by legal scholars as "negative rights," specifically as freedoms from infringements rather than as positive rights that affirm personhood and human dignity. The contributors to this volume offer "positive rights" instead. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), written in the middle of the last century, inspires these updates. Nearly every other constitution in the world has adopted language from the UDHR. The contributors use intersectionality, critical race theory, and contemporary critiques of runaway economic inequality to ground their interventions in sociological argument.

Beth Simmons demonstrates through a combination of statistical analysis and case studies that the ratification of treaties generally leads to better human rights practices. She argues that international human rights law should get more practical and rhetorical support from the international community as a supplement to broader efforts to address conflict, development, and democratization.

This work offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of fact-finding, including rigorous and critical analysis of the field of practice, as well as providing a range of accounts of what actually happens. It deepens the study and practice of human rights investigations, and fosters fact-finding as a discretely studied topic, while mapping crucial transformations in the field.