I Review: Die Universalität der Menschenrechte. Studie zur ideengeschichtlichen Bestimmung eines politischen Schlüsselbegriffes
| Published date | 01 March 1991 |
| Author | Marc Moquette |
| Date | 01 March 1991 |
| DOI | 10.1177/016934419100900114 |
| Subject Matter | Part E: DocumentationI Review |
NQHR
1/1991
PART E: DOCUMENTATION
I Review
Kiihnhardt, Ludger, Die Universalitat der Menschenrechte. Studie
zur
ideengeschichtlichen Bestimmung eines politischen Schlusselbegriffes
[The Universality of
Human
Rights. An Inquiry Into the Determination of
aPolitical Keyword in
the
History ofIdeas] (Munchen,Olzog Verlag, 1987)
407 pp.
Is
the
idea of
human
rights a unique product of Western thinking?
Are
there
different concepts of
human
rights in the various political
and
cultural
traditions in
the
world?
If
so, do these different concepts
render
one
common interpretation of
human
rights impossible?
These
three
questions lay
at
the
heart
of
human
rights. Theyaddress
the
very foundation of
the
Universal Declaration of
Human
Rights
and
international
human
rights law. Yet, literature on this subject is hardly
abundant. This work, a doctorate thesis in political science, is exceptional
in
that
it is entirely devoted to
the
subject.
Ludger Kiihnhardt approaches the question of universality in three
stages, each representing
one
part
in
the
book
and
each
one
broadly
corresponding to
the
three above mentioned questions. In part
one
he
describes
the
development in
the
relationship between
the
State
and
the
individual,
both
in the history of ideas as in terms of political practice. He
presents awell-documentedas well as concise image of the Western origins
of present-day
human
rights.
From
Greek
philosophy
and
the civil rights
practice in the polis; on to
the
Magna Charta-like first attempts at
contractual delimitations of power; on to the development of the
modern
State
and
the
notion of constitutionalism;
and
all the way to international
human
rights law of
the
present
day.
In
part
two Kiihnhardt traces the "position of the individual in the
political thought of non-personal
and
non-Western traditions" (p, 133). He
thereby wants to disclose the
"inner
value systems
and
historical drive
mechanisms (Antriebskrafte)
of
a political culture" (pp. 146-147). Kuhn-
hardt
quotes Sidney Verba's definition of political culture:
"the
system of
empirical beliefs, expressive symbols, and values which defines the situation
in which political action takes place" (p. 148). After noting that it is
112
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