The DOI matches its Crossref record; 2 of the 2 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
What Are Human Rights? Four Schools of Thought
Open accessAbstract
A close reading of academic literature reveals that we do not all conceive of human rights in the same way. This contribution proposes that "natural scholars" conceive of human rights as given ; "deliberative scholars" as agreed upon ; "protest scholars" as fought for ; and "discourse scholars" as talked about . The position of each of these four schools on the foundation, universality, possible realization, and legal embodiment of human rights is reviewed, as well as is the schools' faith, or lack thereof, in human rights. Quotations from academic texts illustrate how the four school model cuts across the academic disciplines with examples drawn from philosophy, politics, law, and anthropology.
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Cites
Dembour, M.-B. (2006) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511618192 · Cited by 263
Self-citationWho Believes in Human Rights?: Reflections on the European Convention
Dembour, M.-B. (2006) · Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) · Cited by 127
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
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David, L. (2020) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/9781108861311 · Cited by 142
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Hanson, K., & Nieuwenhuys, O. (2012) · Cambridge University Press eBooks · doi:10.1017/cbo9781139381796.002 · Cited by 102
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Leurs, K. (2017) · International Communication Gazette · doi:10.1177/1748048517727182 · Cited by 100
Metadata
- Authors
- Dembour, M.-B.
- Corresponding author
- Dembour, Marie-Bénédicte
- Venue
- Human Rights Quarterly
- Publisher
- Project MUSE
- Published
- 2010-02
- Volume
- 32
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 1-20
- ISSN
- 0275-0392 (ISSN-L)
- 1085-794X
- OpenAlex
- W1964201209
- Semantic Scholar
- 364e165e505d49723088f8c08d21dce6b224bc93
- Cited by
- 311
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 23 · 2024: 30 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 34 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 32 · 2018: 29 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 11 · 2015: 15 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 151.19
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Human Rights Quarterly (publishedVersion)
- Project Muse (Johns Hopkins University) (submittedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- University of Brighton Repository (University of Brighton) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Law › Legal Rights and Human Rights
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Political Philosophy and Ethics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › International Law and Human Rights
- Keywords
- human rights, natural rights, deliberative democracy, protest movements, discourse, universality of human rights, foundations of human rights
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- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: What Are Human Rights? Four Schools of Thought. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1353/hrq.0.0130
- The paper
- Dembour, M.-B. (2010). What Are Human Rights? Four Schools of Thought. Human Rights Quarterly. https://doi.org/10.1353/hrq.0.0130
