International Human Rights as Essential Safeguard against the Failures of Nation States

Excerpt

If the ‘end of history’ and the spread of global democratic regimes that would deliver on the human rights promises made at the end of the Second World War was in sight for Francis Fukuyama or the ‘great powers’ in the 1990s, twenty-five years and two wars on ‘terror’ later, human rights remains essentially as contested a concept as it was during the Cold War. In his timely and aptly titled book, The Promise of Human Rights, Jamie Mayerfeld proposes a way out of this never-ending contestation by placing human rights on firmly universalistic moral grounds. Although he is keenly interested in the evolution of human rights within the United States post 9/11 and the eventual impact of U.S. policies adopted in response to the ‘war on terror’ around the globe, Mayerfeld treats these topics as part of a comprehensive framework with global relevance, relying on a clear comparative/philosophical approach. Mayerfeld’s well-informed discussion of developments at the international level, along with his refusal to embrace American exceptionalism, makes the book interesting and informative for scholars educated in different legal and political traditions. His approach reinforces his powerful call for participation in a strong international human rights regime that promotes protection of human rights through “democratic practices of dialogue, debate, and persuasion” (216). In addition, the mix of theoretical and empirical arguments on which Mayerfeld relies refines the somehow patchy knowledge we have of the evolution of human rights in the past two decades. Overall, Mayerfeld offers a comprehensive analysis of human rights as a legal and moral imperative that is clearly written and easy to follow. …