The Future of Human Rights

Human rights have fallen on hard times, yet they are more necessary than ever. People all over the world – from Amazonian villages to Iranian prisons – need human rights to gain recognition, campaign for justice, and save lives. But how can we secure a brighter future for human rights? What changes are required to confront the regime’s weaknesses and emerging global challenges?

In this cutting-edge analysis, Alison Brysk sets out a pragmatic reformist agenda for human rights in the twenty-first century. Tracing problems and solutions through contemporary case studies – the plight of refugees, declining democracies such as Mexico and Turkey, the expansion of women’s rights, new norms for indigenous peoples, and rights regression in the USA – she shows that the dynamic strength of human rights lies in their evolving political practice. This distinctive vision demands that we build upon the gains of the human rights regime to construct new pathways which address historic rights gaps, from citizenship to security, from environmental protection to resurgent nationalism, and to globalization itself.

Drawing on the author’s extensive experience as a leading human rights scholar and activist, The Future of Human Rights offers a broad and authoritative guide to the big questions in global human rights governance today.

• Chapter 1: Now More Than Ever
• Chapter 2: Unfinished Business: Mind the Gaps
• Chapter 3: Expanding Rights: Bridges and Paths
• Chapter 4: Contracting Rights: Regression and Resistance
• Chapter 5: Reconstructing Rights in a Post-Liberal World

“An excellent analysis of the full range of issues and tensions that characterize current human rights practice and governance today.”
Sam Gregory, Harvard Kennedy School and Program Director, WITNESS

“Alison Brysk makes a compelling, pragmatic, and, ultimately, optimistic argument for the incredible resilience of human rights. Combining insightful social science theory with evidence of human rights victories and setbacks, The Future of Human Rights provides a powerful diagnostic, offering vital lessons on the way forward.”
Tom Pegram, University College London

“Alison Brysk has read widely and thought carefully about human rights. The synthesis presented here, concise but sophisticated, is very much worth reading and pondering. She does not shy away from the problems, but also presents some positive possibilities for the future of human rights.”
David P. Forsythe, University Professor Emeritus, University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Alison Brysk is the Duncan and Suzanne Mellichamp Professor in Global Studies and Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara.