Does the apparent victory, universality
and ubiquity of the idea of rights indicate that such rights have transcended
all conflicts of interests and moved beyond the presumption that it is the clash
of ideas that drives culture? Or has the rhetorical triumph of rights not been
replicated in reality? The contributors to this book answer these questions in
the context of an increasing wealth gap between the metropolitan elites and the
rest, a chasm in income and chances between the rich and the poor, and walls
which divide the comfortable middle classes from the 'underclass'. Why do these
inequalities persist in our supposed human rights-abiding societies? In seeking
to address the foundations, genealogies, meaning and impact of rights, this book
captures some of the energy, breadth, power and paradoxes that make deployment
of the language of human rights such an essential but changeable part of so many
of our contemporary discourses.
