With contributions from Jacques Derrida, Amy Kapczynski, Jacques Ranciere and Slavoj Zizek, these essays grapple with the philosophical and theoretical questions at the heart of human rights. They take into consideration political configurations such as sovereignty, genocide, humanitarian intervention, and the neglected domain of cultural rights.

Examines the idea and the reality of human rights and their attendant discourses Contributors include Jacques Derrida, Amy Kapczynski, Jacques Ranciere and Slavoj Zizek Grappling with the philosophical and theoretical questions at the heart of human rights, these essays take into consideration current political configurations such as sovereignty, genocide, humanitarian intervention, and the neglected domain of cultural rights (the right to a cultural identity). Drawing on Enlightenment thinking about human rights at the same time that they analyze the central concepts at work there - including the "humanity of man" and the nature of rights or of law - the contributors make a necessary intervention in a world system that Enlightenment thinkers could scarcely have envisioned.