The political economy of human rights

Contemporary political economy can make an important contribution to the human rights debates which have come to dominate political relations over the past half century. These debates hide a wide variety of political agendas. Rights arguments often indicate ethical deficiencies, and sometimes help adjudicate social disputes but not always. Defming rights does not necessarily resolve and may even aggravate social conflicts (Ignatieff 2000: 16). Further, an abstract portrayal of formal, individual rights may obscure actual rights in a particular social situation. At the same time, human rights have become a unique moral and political consensus. Dictators and democrats alike now rely on some variant of rights arguments, as the touchstone of their political legitimacy. This, of course, only adds to the confusion of meanings.