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A Foundation For Transnational Obligations, James M. Donovan

James M. Donovan

Human rights have, over the last fifty years, risen to the forefront of foreign relations. Whereas Marx could refer them as the “so-called human rights,” few today would be so bold as to question the cogency of the category itself. Despite this pervasive influence, the concept of human rights sits uneasily with other deeply-entrenched categories, not least being the sovereign state. Without some ethical reconciliation between these two, enforcement of these rights will remain opportunistic.

Some will argue that, just as the rights are predicated on the universal concept of the human, the mechanisms for their enforcement should also be …