Ideology and Human Rights

Abstract

Human rights are one of the most resonant concepts in international relations today, with competing political groups promoting different and even contrary interpretations of the term. Such contestation is possible because human rights, even as defined in international law, are a broad and vague concept. This chapter adopts a positivist definition of rights – as the power of one entity to enforce a duty on another – and shows how various political actors fill the concept of human rights with concrete policy goals. The chapter focuses first on how states professing “liberal” ideology have advanced their goals using human rights: as a mobilizational tool for domestic and international supporters; as a constraint on but also a handmaiden to the exercise of power; and as a rhetorical weapon in institutionalized and militarized conflicts. The chapter concludes by showing how groups promoting nonliberal ideologies use their own interpretations of human rights to achieve goals in international politics. Throughout, the chapter pays keen attention to the ways in which the ideological nature of human rights opens opportunities for exploitation and hypocrisy, particularly by states.