In Defense of Economic and Social Human Rights
An Intellectual History, 1940 to the Present
Published on 20. November 2025
Book
Hardback
262 pages
978-1-009-55141-0 (ISBN)
Description
Breaking new ground in the intellectual history of economic and social human rights, Christian Olaf Christiansen traces their justification from the outset of World War II until the present day. Featuring a series of fascinating thinkers, from political scientists to Popes, this is the first book to comprehensively map the key arguments made in defense of human rights and how they connect to ideas of social and redistributive justice. Christiansen traces this intellectual history from a first phase devoted to internationalizing these rights, a second phase of their unprecedented legitimacy deployed to criticize global inequality, to a third phase of a continued quest to secure their legitimacy once and for all. Engaging with the newest scholarship and building a bridge to political philosophy as well as global inequality studies, it facilitates a much-needed novel and nuanced history of rights-rights we should still consider defending today.
Reviews / Votes
'Christiansen provides an original and insightful account of the vicissitudes of efforts to ensure that economic and social rights have been taken seriously within the international human rights. He sheds valuable new light on the vital role of Global South actors in those endeavours.' Philip Alston, NYU 'Weaving together diverse stories of how differently situated human rights advocates contested global inequality, this book provides a rich tapestry of how rights frameworks have been mobilised and imagined. In our contemporary moment, characterised by obscene levels of global inequality and ecological crisis, this intellectual history contains important resources for working towards redistributive justice.' Julia Dehm, La Trobe Law School 'Christian Christiansen's far-reaching study represents a major revision to human rights history and points the way toward a new vision for how economic and social rights might still be reclaimed in the struggle to more equitably share what he beautifully describes as the cumulative fruits of humanity's progress.' Mark Goodale, author of Reinventing Human Rights 'Christian Olaf Christiansen has provided scholars with a new road map for the global intellectual history of human rights and given a timely reminder of the ways in which modern human rights emerged as a criticism of material inequality and poverty. The book?s insights into global intellectual histories of topics including distributive justice, limitarianism, and solidarity, offer lessons for today?s unequal world.' Julia McClure, University of Glasgow 'Comprehensive, enlightening, nuanced. Christiansen makes a powerful and persuasive case: Ideas matter. Human rights matter. The UN's efforts to defend economic and social rights matter.' Thomas G. Weiss, The CUNY Graduate CenterMore details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
Worked examples or Exercises
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 157 mm
Thickness: 19 mm
Weight
535 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-009-55141-0 (9781009551410)
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Schweitzer Classification
Person
Christian Olaf Christiansen is an Associate Professor in the Department of Philosophy and History of Ideas at Aarhus University. He is an intellectual historian focused on historicizing issues of pressing contemporary concern, including human rights.
Content
Introduction: human rights and distributive justice; Part I. Internationalizing Human Rights: 1. War aims: Ralph Bunche, H. G. Wells and 'world social democracy'; 2. A 'Just share in social progress:' revisiting Hersch Lauterpacht; 3. Bridging the cold war divide: Ralph Bunche, Gunnar Myrdal and Moses Moskowitz advocating rights in the 1950s; Part II. Criticizing Global Inequalities Through Human Rights: 4. Deploying human rights against global inequalities in the 1960s: catholics and pan Africanists; 5. The 'Widening gap' as a threat to human rights: Manouchehr Ganji; Part III. Legitimizing Human Rights: 6. The derailment of a dream: Amartya Sen and the Sisyphean task of defending rights; Epilogue; Acknowledgements; Selected bibliography; Index.