Legitimacy and stability in the era of globalization: toward a political conception of human rights

The growing body of philosophical literature surrounding the topic of human rights aims to give conceptual clarity to this important normative concept. Traditionally philosophical theories of human rights have tended to explore the universal, moral nature of human rights and posit ways in which the human rights practice might be brought into conformity with universal moral ends. Recently, theorists have begun to take pragmatic approach to theorizing about human rights, arguing that considerations of the political and institutional reality of human rights should be given significant weight in philosophical discussions. This dissertation is a contribution to the political philosophy of human rights which follows the latter approach and is motivated by two observations. The first is that the processes of globalization have elicited the need for institutional human rights in a manner that the drafters of the treaties and covenants of international law most likely could have never imagined. Human rights doctrine was developed in the wake of the Second World War to foster peace and security in the international arena and address standard threats to individual well-being in a world of separate states. As globalization changes the landscape of the global order, and power increasingly escapes the confines of the state, the standard threats to individual interests now come from sources over which governments may have little control. In this time of transition, the international human rights regime could serve a vital role mitigating the social and economic threats to individual well-being that emerge in the interconnected global order. The second motivating observation is that if human rights are to effectively carry out this function, then they must be perceived as legitimate by the broadest set of individuals and groups possible. In light of these considerations I will argue that a political conception of human rights informed by the realities of the contemporary international order should foreground the matter of public justification—an insight which many of the major political conceptions of human rights already take to heart. Where these theories tend to fall short however, is that their methodological and normative focus on the state compromises their philosophical and critical import in the global era. This project aims to move the political conception of human rights beyond the nation state.