POLS 317 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Animal Rights, Natural And Legal Rights, Universal Rule
2 Mar 2018
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Hr not enforcing or challenging power relation, simply combining ethical claim with a legal/political one. Claims and declarations mean nothing if it"s not on paper, mutual obligations required by law. Claims to anything can be abused and misused. Idea of natural rights from enlightenment period dependent on the universal human nature theory but nah. Now ppl know that rights are social and political products, dependent on state and society. Smitt and arendt are critical that concepts of humanity and hr are empty and don"t correspond to any political reality therefor e no clear universal rule or mechanism of enforcement. Argued that humanitarian action could work if based on inter-state agreement and administered through non political body such as international committee of the red cross. If hr claims set against the agreed constituted rights framework, then they threatened conflict and instability. Subject of the claims cant be separate from the agency enforcing them.
