The Struggle for Human Rights (Hardcover)

The Struggle for Human Rights evaluates the themes of law, politics, and practice which together define international human rights practice and scholarship. Taking as it's inspiration the 40 year career of international human rights advocate Philip Alston, this book of essays examines foundational debates central to the evolution of the human rights project. It critiques the reform of human rights institutions and reflects on the place of human rights practice in contemporary society.

Bringing together leading scholars, practitioners, and critics of human rights from a variety of disciplines, The Struggle for Human Rights addresses the most urgent questions posed within the field of human rights today - its practice and its theory. Rethinking assumptions and re-evaluating strategies in the law, politics, and practice of international human rights, this book is essential reading for academics and human rights professionals around the world.

Nehal Bhuta holds the Chair of Public International Law at University of Edinburgh and is Co-Director of the Edinburgh Centre for International and Global Law. He previously held the Chair of Public International Law at the European University Institute in Florence, where was also Co-Director of the Institute's Academy of European Law. He is a member of the editorial boards of the European Journal of International Law, the Journal of International Criminal Justice, Constellations and a founding editor of the interdisciplinary journal Humanity. He is also a series editor of the Oxford University Press (OUP) series in The History and Theory of International Law.

Florian Hoffmann is a Professor of Law at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Brazil, and an associate researcher in the Núcleo de Direitos Humanos (Human Rights Center) of the Law Department. Prior to this he was the Franz Haniel Chair of Public Policy (2010-2016) and the Director of the Willy Brandt School of Public Policy (2012-2015) at the University of Erfurt (Germany). Before this he taught at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) (2008-2010) and the PUC-Rio (2003-2008). His research has focused on international law, comparative law, and human rights. He is, with Anne Orford, the co-editor of the Oxford Handbook on the Theory of International Law (2016).

Sarah Knuckey is a human rights advocate and clinical professor of law, and directs the Human Rights Clinic and the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School. She works in partnership with social justice advocates to investigate abuse and advocate for justice and rights around the world. Her academic research focuses on human rights methods and critique, armed conflict, clinical pedagogy, and mental health.

Frédéric Mégret is a Professor of Law and a William Dawson Scholar at McGill University. He held the Canada Research Chair on the Law of Human Rights and Legal Pluralism from 2006 to 2015. He was promoted to full professor in 2019 and named co-director of the Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism in 2021. Prior to joining McGill University, Professor Mégret was an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Toronto, a Boulton fellow at McGill University and a research associate at the European University Institute in Florence.

Margaret Satterthwaite is Professor of Clinical Law, Faculty Director of the Robert and Helen Bernstein Institute for Human Rights, Co-Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, and the Director of the Global Justice at NYU School of Law. Her research interests include legal empowerment, vicarious trauma and wellbeing among human rights workers, and interdisciplinary methods in human rights. Before joining the academy, she clerked for Judge Betty Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the judges of the International Court of Justice, and worked for a number of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights First, and the Commission Nationale de Verité et de Justice in Haiti. She has authored or co-authored more than a dozen human rights reports and dozens of scholarly articles and book chapters.