The no-nonsense guide to human rights

How do we define human rights, and how do we protect them?

Is the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights truly universal? And how has human rights discourse been appropriated by legal and institutional cultures?

In this "No-Nonsense Guide", Olivia Ball and Paul Gready review the development of today's assumptions about human rights and introduce us to alternative models from history and from today's human rights debate.

Using vivid case studies from around the world, the authors illustrate how the concept of rights changes according to geography and culture.

They examine the gap between rights legislation and rights implementation, and provide constructive examples of situations in which rights implementation has been successful.

From the material rights of citizenship to the more abstract rights of the imagination, the authors present a clear overview of today's human rights debate, and prompt discussion about alternative models for the future.