The Life and Times of Human Rights Organizations: Organizational Biographies and the Sociology of Human Rights
| Published date | 01 August 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/09646639221146078 |
| Author | Ron Dudai |
| Date | 01 August 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Review Essay |
The Life and Times
of Human Rights
Organizations:
Organizational Biographies
and the Sociology
of Human Rights
Ron Dudai
Ben Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel
Contemporary assessments of human rights tend to diverge in increasingly polarized
ways. Human rights are frequently labeled “the dominant normative or moral discourse
of global politics”(Goodhart, 2009: 2), and for many, it had become axiomatic to observe
that we live in an “age of human rights”(Golder, 2014: 78). Yet there is a parallel wave of
pessimism, and many proclaim “the endtimes”of human rights (Hopgood, 2013). Claims
that the human rights movement might be “part of the problem”(Kennedy, 2002) have
long shadowed its research and practice, but the rise of populism and the 2016 Brexit–
Trump moment contributed to making the critique of human rights and doubts over its
power and mission much more prominent (Alston, 2017). Arguments that the human
rights movement is at best an ineffective failure and otherwise a Western tool legitimizing
Neo-Liberalism and colonial wars (e.g., Moyn, 2018), have become increasingly popular.
Yet such arguments have also been challenged by authors maintaining that the human
rights movement has retained its potential to fight against oppression and for social
justice, and a wave of studies critiquing the critique of human rights has ensued (e.g.,
Alston, 2017; Dudai, 2019; Evans, 2021). Meanwhile, repressive governments,
perhaps better judges of the potential of dissent than critical scholars, have been increas-
ing their attacks on human rights defenders worldwide (Frontline, 2021). The oppression
of human rights activists and their persistent campaigns both demonstrate a belief that
human rights activism is a viable challenge to the status quo; a belief that many
human rights academics seem to question.
Corresponding author:
Ron Dudai, Ben Gurion University, Beer-Sheva, Israel.
Email: dudair@bgu.ac.il
Review Essay
Social & Legal Studies
2023, Vol. 32(4) 645–653
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/09646639221146078
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