International Human Rights Law and Its Critics

Abstract

This book review essay critically reflects on The Twilight of Human Rights Law by Eric Posner. I compare his arguments with some of the findings in the books The Endtimes of Human Rights by Stephen Hopgood and The Dark Sides of Virtue by David Kennedy. All three books contain a pragmatic critique on international human rights law. I conclude that Posner succeeds in pointing to certain fundamental challenges that the international human rights movement should address. However, by wholly rejecting the idea of international human rights law, Posner in fact makes an ideological rather than pragmatic move. The problems that the book identifies should not be regarded as a reason to dismiss the regime in its entirety, but rather as an opportunity to improve it so that the supposed gap between local human rights activism and international human rights law may close.