Human Rights: What Does the Future Hold?

Abstract

Abstract There is no shortage of bad human rights news around the world. Human rights are threatened in dictatorships to consolidated democracies. The rise of nationalist demagoguery within countries and the rise of China as a potential hegemon in the international system pose significant challenges for the realization of universal human rights. Concurrently, a new strain of human rights scholarship has emerged to challenge the progress made in human rights protection over the years and the moral foundation of that progress. The future of human rights at this moment in history is precarious, but three new books provide good speculation for what the future may hold. Human Rights Futures edited by Stephen Hopgood, Jack Snyder, and Leslie Vinjamuri; In Defense of Universal Human Rights by Rhoda Howard-Hassmann; and The Future of Human Rights by Allison Brysk are all reviewed in this essay. The three books revive longstanding debates in human rights scholarship but also point the way for different futures of human rights, some positive and some negative. Ultimately, for the human rights movement to sustain itself and build on its successes for the future, it will need to confront the challenges posed by the nationalist demagogues and the Chinese Communist Party. The human rights movement needs a “second wind,” which it can get if it reaffirms and reemphasizes its support for social and economic rights along with liberal democracy and international law.