Human Rights

Reviews / Votes

"Human rights' is not a thing, but a concept, a way of thinking and making claims about certain events. These claims derive from moral rules and are expressed in legal terms or United Nations dialect. Michael Freeman's excellent book provides a patient unravelling of how these distinctive claims have emerged and how to reconceptualize them in terms of social science and political theory. Current public discourse and the massive new wave of academic interest just assume that human rights is 'a concept whose time has come'. Freeman gives this audience a most valuable, reliable and clear answer to his own question: 'But what is it precisely that has come?" Stan Cohen, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics "Michael Freeman's Human Rights, An Interdisciplanary Approach is a unique five star Baedecker to an expanding landscape of serious research introducing the reader to the diverse ways academic fields of scolarship come to grips with the important topic of human rights....it will attract bright and inquiring minds who will want to dig more deeply into the literature to which they have been so gracefully initiated" Richard Pierre Claude, Human Rights Quarterly "The treatment of the background concepts and theories as well of the different issues is up to date, substantially focussed and presented in a balanced way. In this Freeman succeeds in presenting the complexity of the discussions without demanding prior knowledge" Mikael Spang, Ethnic and Racial Studies "'Human rights,' states Freeman with justifiable certainty in the Introduction to this excellent book, 'is an interdisciplinary concept par excellence'. ...Throughout this engaging text, Freeman is sensitive to the debates but wholly committed to the issues. ...What a gift this is for students of various disciplines interested in human rights but intimidated by the complex legal and philosophical jargon contained in much of the literature." Darren J. O'Byrne, University of Surrey Roehampton "Human Rights is an introductory text that is both innovative and challenging. [...] In this unique interdisciplinary approach, Michael Freeman emphasizes the complex ways n which the experiences of the victims of human rights violations are related to legal, philosophical and socio-scientific approaches to human rights." Philosophical Inquiry