Human Rights and Social Movements
By (author) Neil Stammers
Publication date:
20 April 2009Length of book:
296 pagesPublisher
Pluto PressISBN-13: 9781849644297
This book champions social movements as one of the most influential agents that shape our conceptions of human rights.
It argues that human rights cannot be understood outside of the context of social movement struggles. It explains how much of the literature on human rights has systematically obscured this link, consequently distorting our understandings of human rights.
Neil Stammers shows how human rights can be understood. He suggests that what he calls the 'paradox of institutionalisation' can only be addressed through a recognition of the importance of human rights arising out of grassroots activism, and through processes of institutional democratisation.
It argues that human rights cannot be understood outside of the context of social movement struggles. It explains how much of the literature on human rights has systematically obscured this link, consequently distorting our understandings of human rights.
Neil Stammers shows how human rights can be understood. He suggests that what he calls the 'paradox of institutionalisation' can only be addressed through a recognition of the importance of human rights arising out of grassroots activism, and through processes of institutional democratisation.
'A lively, provocative and insightful discussion of human rights and social movements that goes to the heart of what human rights are, what they are not, and what we might aspire for them to be'