International Law - De serie

The most prominent recent books on this subject are:

Patrick Capps. Human Dignity and the Foundations of International Law. (London, UK. Bloomsbury Publishing, 2009)

Aharon Barak. Human Dignity: The Constitutional Value and the Constitutional Right. (Oxford, UK. Oxford University Press, 2015)

Seyla Benhabib. Dignity in Adversity: Human Rights in Troubled Times. (Cambridge, UK. Polity Press, 2011)

These books, while each of considerable value, approach the link between human dignity and international law from a fairly traditional Kantian perspective. By contrast, my argument draws on the critical legal tradition pioneered by figures like Roberto Unger to argue that human dignity is about enabling individuals to transcend the socio-historical boundaries within which they exist and therefore become capable of dignified self-authorship. Understood in this way, making the protection and amplification of human dignity central to international human rights law becomes about enabling individuals to push back against the marginalizing institutions and policies adopted by states. It also implies that we should place a much greater value on international economic rights, since these are necessary if individuals are truly to enjoy a dignified self-authorship.