New Book: The Right to Have Rights

The Right to Have Rights
Citizenship, Humanity, and International Law

by Alison Kesby

(Oxford University Press, 2012)

192 pages


Description

This book provides the first in-depth examination of the right to have rights in the context of the international protection of human rights. It explores two overarching questions. First, how do different and competing conceptions of the right to have rights shed light on right bearing in the contemporary context, and in particular on concepts and relationships central to the protection of human rights in public international law? Secondly, given these competing conceptions, how is the right to have rights to be understood in the context of public international law? In the course of the analysis, the author examines the significance and limits of nationality, citizenship, humanity and politics for right bearing, and argues that their complex interrelation points to how the right to have rights might be rearticulated for the purposes of international legal thought and practice.

Contents [pdf]

Introduction

1: The Right to Have Rights as a 'Place in the World'
2: The Right to Have Rights as Nationality
3: The Right to Have Rights as Citizenship
4: The Right to Have Rights as Humanity
5: The Right to Have Rights as the Politics of Human Rights

Conclusion

Alison Kesby is a Research Fellow in public international law at St John's College, Cambridge.