The Hidden Face of Rights: Toward a Politics of Responsibilities

by Kathryn Sikkink

Overview

Why we cannot truly implement human rights unless we also recognize human responsibilities

When we debate questions in international law, politics, and justice, we often use the language of rights—and far less often the language of responsibilities. Human rights scholars and activists talk about state responsibility for rights, but they do not articulate clear norms about other actors’ obligations. In this book, Kathryn Sikkink argues that we cannot truly implement human rights unless we also recognize and practice the corresponding human responsibilities.
 
Focusing on five areas—climate change, voting, digital privacy, freedom of speech, and sexual assault—and providing many examples of on‑the‑ground initiatives where people choose to embrace a close relationship between rights and responsibilities, Sikkink argues for the importance of responsibilities to any comprehensive understanding of political ethics and human rights.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780300233292
Publisher:	Yale University Press
Publication date:	01/07/2020
Series:	Castle Lecture Series
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Kathryn Sikkink is the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.

Table of Contents

Preface: In Memory xi

Acknowledgments xv

1 What Together We Can Do 1

2 Laying Out the Theoretical Groundwork 26

3 Global Rights and Responsibilities: Climate Change and Digital Defense against the Dark Arts 53

4 National Rights and Responsibilities: Voting 79

5 What Do the Students Think? 93

6 Changing Norms and Practices 110

7 The Rights and Responsibilities Framework on Campus: Speech and Sexual Assault 125

Notes 149

Index 179

Editorial Reviews

Kathryn Sikkink articulates a powerful case for forward-looking individual and collective responsibilities as essential for the enjoyment of rights.”—Robert O. Keohane, author of After Hegemony: Cooperation and Discord in the World Political Economy

"In this brave and important book, a leading scholar of human rights reopens the debate about responsibilities in relation to rights and outlines the collective normative work needed to deal with the most challenging issues of our time."—Joseph S. Nye, Jr., author of Do Morals Matter? Presidents and Foreign Policy from FDR to Trump
 

"One of the world's greatest authorities on international human rights, Kathryn Sikkink boldly reframes a politicized debate. This book reinvigorates the critical understanding that individual liberty depends on duties to community and polity, just as the common good depends on free individuals"—Martha Minow, Harvard University
 

From the Publisher