The global politics of human rights: From human rights to human dignity?
| Author | Salvador Santino F Regilme |
| Published date | 01 March 2019 |
| Date | 01 March 2019 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/0192512118757129 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0192512118757129
International Political Science Review
2019, Vol. 40(2) 279 –290
© The Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0192512118757129
journals.sagepub.com/home/ips
The global politics of human
rights: From human rights to
human dignity?
Salvador Santino F Regilme Jr
Leiden University, the Netherlands
Abstract
This review essay highlights the limitations and possibilities of a global human rights order based on analysis
of five recently published books about human rights. The main argument states that reform of the global
human rights order requires not only a shift to a more emancipatory notion of human dignity but also an
emphasis on global justice and material compensation within and between the Global North and Global
South. Human dignity, in this essay, embraces all types of human rights claims, ranging from political rights
to socio-economic rights, among many others. The essay proposes a three-pronged reform of international
human rights: (1) a shift from Western human rights to the more inclusive and pluralist notion of human
dignity; (2) the promotion of global justice by rewriting the rules of global economic governance; and (3)
mandatory political education on human rights and human dignity.
Keywords
Human rights, arms trade, intergovernmental organizations, European Union, United States, human dignity
Introduction
Amidst the recent resurgence of illiberal politics, how and under what set of conditions can we
hope to reform the global human rights order? That overarching question inspires this essay, which
reviews five recently published books that represent some of the finest scholarly works on the
global politics of human rights norms. The principal analytical motivation of this review essay
relates to key limitations and possibilities for reform of the global human rights order. Notably, the
five books under review were written by the historian Joe Renouard; the empirically-oriented
political scientists Brian Greenhill, Jennifer Erickson and Katrin Kinzelbach; and the political
theorist Benjamin Gregg.
Since the end of the Cold War, various human rights norms have gained traction – and not only
in terms of their further codification in the international legal system and institutionalization in
Corresponding author:
Salvador Santino F Regilme Jr, Institute for History, Leiden University, Doelensteeg 16, Leiden, 2311VL, the
Netherlands.
Email: s.s.regilme@hum.leidenuniv.nl
757129IPS0010.1177/0192512118757129International Political Science ReviewRegilme
review-article2018
Article
To continue reading
Request your trial