What are the limits of human rights, and what do these limits mean? This volume engages critically and constructively with this question to provide a distinct contribution to the contemporary discussion on human rights. Fassbender and Traisbach, along with a group of leading experts in the field, examine the issue from multiple disciplinary perspectives, analysing the limits of our current discourse of human rights. It does so in an original way, and without attempting to deconstruct, or deny, human rights.
Each contribution is supplemented by an engaging comment which furthers this important discussion. This combination of perspectives paves the way for further thought for scholars, practitioners, students, and the wider public. Ultimately, this volume provides an exceptionally rich spectrum of viewpoints and arguments across disciplines to offer fresh insights into human rights and its limitations.
Introduction: A Ride on the Human Rights Bus, Bardo Fassbender and Knut Traisbach
Prologue: Limits and their Varieties, Henry J. Steiner
Part 1. Limits of Ideas, Limits of Communities: Paradigms and Biases
1: Humanity and the Claim to Self-Evidence, Lynn Hunt
2: The Self-Evidence of Human Rights: Origins and Limits of an Idea, Bardo Fassbender
3: Human Rights, Global Justice, and the Limits of Law, Kate Nash
4: Human Rights beyond the Double Bind of Sovereignty: A Response to Kate Nash, Mark Goodale
5: Emergencies and Human Rights: A Hobbesian Analysis, David Dyzenhaus
6: Reason, Faith, and Feelings: A Response to David Dyzenhaus, Conor Gearty
Part 2. Limits of Functions, Limits of Uses: Actors and Practices
7: Being a Realist about Human Rights, Christian Reus-Smit
8: Political Limits of International Human Rights: A Response (or a Rejoinder) to Christian Reus-Smit, Basak Çali
9: Human Rights Bodies and the Structure of Institutional Obligation, Jan Klabbers
10: Dissecting the Institution: A Response to Jan Klabbers, Rosa Freedman and Ruth Houghton
11: Differentiating Fundamental Rights and Economic Goals, Aryeh Neier
12: Advocating for Social and Economic Rights-Critical Perspectives: A Response to Aryeh Neier, Jeremy Perelman
Part 3. Limits of Scope, Limits of Recognition: The Case of Women’s Rights
13: Between the Margins and the Mainstream: The Case of Women’s Rights, Hilary Charlesworth and Christine Chinkin
14: Women’s Rights are Human Rights: A Response to Hilary Charlesworth and Christine Chinkin from a Chinese Perspective, Bai Guimei
15: Women’s Progress and Women’s Human Rights, Martha C. Nussbaum
16: The Limits of Law: A Response to Martha C Nussbaum, Fareda Banda
Part 4. Limits of Pragmatism, Limits of Compromise: The Case of Armed Conflict
17: The Limits of the Laws of War, Frédéric Mégret
18: The Banality of Humanity (as an Absolute): A Response to Frédéric Mégret, Knut Traisbach
19: The Limits of Human Rights in Times of Armed Conflict and Other Situations of Armed Violence, Andrew Clapham
20: The End of the War/Peace Limit on the Application of International Human Rights Law: A Response to Andrew Clapham, Yuval Shany
Part 5. Limits of Prospects, Limits of Means: An Outlook
21: The Limits of Human Rights in a Moving World-Elements of a Dynamic Approach, Mireille Delmas-Marty
22: Where are the Limits of Human Rights? Four Schools, four Complementary Visions: A Response to Mireille Delmas-Marty, Marie-Bénédicte Dembour
23: Strategizing for Human Rights: From Ideals to Practice, Douglas A. Johnson and Kathryn Sikkink
24: Historical Strategies for Human Rights: A Response to Kathryn Sikkink and Douglas Johnson, Micheline Ishay
Edited by Bardo Fassbender, Professor of Public International Law, European Law, and Public Law, University of St Gallen, and Knut Traisbach, Associate Professor of International Law (Adjunct), University of Barcelona
Bardo Fassbender is Professor of International Law, European Law and Public Law at the University of St. Gallen. He studied law, history and political science at the University of Bonn (Germany) and holds an LL.M from Yale Law School and a Doctor iuris from the Humboldt University in Berlin, where he also completed his Habilitation and became Privatdozent for the disciplines of public law, international law, European law and constitutional history. He was a Ford Foundation Senior Fellow in Public International Law at Yale University and a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence. He advised the Legal Counsel and Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations on the subject of «Targeted sanctions of the UN Security Council and Due Process of Law». Before joining the University of St. Gallen in 2013, he held the chair in international law and human rights law at the Bundeswehr University in Munich.
Knut Traisbach is Associate Professor of International Law (Adjunct) at the University of Barcelona and tutor for three international postgraduate programmes in International Affairs and Diplomacy organized by UNITAR and UOC. He also teaches human rights at ESADE Law School in Barcelona. He holds degrees from Humboldt University Berlin, the European University Institute and was a visiting researcher at Yale Law School. He has held positions as lecturer, programme director, researcher and course convenor in the areas of international law, human rights and international relations at various higher education and research institutions in Berlin, Florence, Venice and Barcelona. His main research interests include meaningful interdisciplinary and critical approaches to international law, human rights and international relations theory.
Contributors:
Bardo Fassbender
Knut Traisbach
Henry J. Steiner
Lynn Hunt
Kate Nash
Mark Goodale
David Dyzenhaus
Conor Gearty
Christian Reus-Smit
Basak Çali
Jan Klabbers
Rosa Freedman
Ruth Houghton
Aryeh Neier
Jeremy Perelman
Hilary Charlesworth
Christine Chinkin
Bai Guimei
Martha C. Nussbaum
Fareda Banda
Frédéric Mégret
Andrew Clapham
Yuval Shany
Mireille Delmas-Marty
Marie-Bénédicte Dembour
Douglas A. Johnson
Kathryn Sikkink
Micheline Ishay
