Theories of Human Rights: Institutional or Orthodox - Why it Matters

Follesdal, Andreas

Theories of Human Rights: Institutional or Orthodox - Why it Matters

Moral and Political Conceptions of Human Rights: Implications for Theory and Practice, Reidar Maliks and Johan K. Schaffer, eds. Cambridge University Press (2017)

16 Pages Posted: 25 Apr 2017

See all articles by Andreas Follesdal

Andreas Follesdal

Pluricourts

Date Written: April 23, 2017

Abstract

The aim of this article is primarily to alleviate some of the alleged conflicts between 'Orthodox' and 'Political' theories of human rights, in particular to defend at least one Political theory against charges that it is unduly constrained to actual consensus on premises in defense of International Legal Human Rights (ILHR), that it is too closely linked to the current state system to match the universal ambitions of human rights, and that it seeks to avoid normative premises. The last section question the alleged value added of Orthodox theories' "intermediate moral principles" of moral human rights for Political theories of ILHR.

Keywords: human rights

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Follesdal, Andreas, Theories of Human Rights: Institutional or Orthodox - Why it Matters (April 23, 2017). Moral and Political Conceptions of Human Rights: Implications for Theory and Practice, Reidar Maliks and Johan K. Schaffer, eds. Cambridge University Press (2017), Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2957035