Human Rights and Empire: The Political Philosophy of Cosmopolitanism

Erudite and timely, this book is a key contribution to the renewal of radical theory and politics. Addressing the paradox of a contemporary humanitarianism that has abandoned politics in favour of combating evil, Douzinas, a leading scholar and author in the field of human rights and legal theory, considers the most pressing international questions.

Asking whether there `is an intrinsic relationship between human rights and the recent wars carried out in their name?' and whether `human rights are a barrier against domination and oppression or the ideological gloss of an emerging empire?' this book examines a range of topics, including:

• the normative characteristics, political philosophy and metaphysical foundations of our age
• the subjective and institutional aspects of human rights and their involvement in the creation of identity and definition of the meaning and powers of humanity
• the use of human rights as a justification for a new configuration of political, economic and military power.

Exploring the legacy and the contemporary role of human rights, this topical and incisive book is a must for all those interested in human rights law, jurisprudence and philosophy of law, political philosophy and political theory.

Part 1: The Paradoxes of Human Rights 1. The End of Human Rights? 2. Identity, Desire, Rights 3. The Many Faces of Humanitarianism 4. The Politics of Human Rights 5. Freedom in a Biopolitical Setting Part 2: The Normative Sources of the New World Order 6. Empire or Cosmopolitanism? 7. Cosmopolitanism Ancient, Modern, Postmodern 8. Human Rights: Values in a Valueless World 9. The Brief Glory and the Long Crisis of International Law 10. War, Violence, Law 11. Bare, Theological and Cosmopolitan Sovereignty 12. Postscript: The Cosmopolitanism to Come