TY - CHAP
T1 - Misdiagnosing the Human Rights Malaise
T2 - Possible Lessons from the Danish Chairmanship of the Council of Europe
AU - Hartmann, Jacques
PY - 2019
Y1 - 2019
N2 - Contemporary populism is antagonistic towards human rights. As a result, the challenges now facing the human rights movement are fundamentally different from those of the past. Yet, proposed remedies to this malaise often seem ill-conceived. Populists tend to claim that the institutions charged with the protection of fundamental rights not only limit the capacity of the people to exercise their rightful power but are also the source of a growing discontent with the system itself. This narrative is often uncritically accepted and leads to suggestions that human rights must be fundamentally reformed. Although intuitively appealing, such suggestions commonly lack support from empirical evidence. In addition, much of the debate seemingly starts from the premise that the public is fully informed. Using Denmark as a case study, this Note shows that existing assumptions may be questioned. It further suggests that it may be dangerous to propose a cure before the malaise has been properly diagnosed.
AB - Contemporary populism is antagonistic towards human rights. As a result, the challenges now facing the human rights movement are fundamentally different from those of the past. Yet, proposed remedies to this malaise often seem ill-conceived. Populists tend to claim that the institutions charged with the protection of fundamental rights not only limit the capacity of the people to exercise their rightful power but are also the source of a growing discontent with the system itself. This narrative is often uncritically accepted and leads to suggestions that human rights must be fundamentally reformed. Although intuitively appealing, such suggestions commonly lack support from empirical evidence. In addition, much of the debate seemingly starts from the premise that the public is fully informed. Using Denmark as a case study, this Note shows that existing assumptions may be questioned. It further suggests that it may be dangerous to propose a cure before the malaise has been properly diagnosed.
KW - Council of Europe chairmanship
KW - Danish Supreme Court
KW - ECtHR
KW - human rights malaise
KW - popular backlash
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85074507598&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/oso/9780190072506.003.0006
DO - 10.1093/oso/9780190072506.003.0006
M3 - Chapter (peer-reviewed)
SN - 9780190072506
T3 - The Global Community Yearbook of International Law and Jurisprudence
SP - 153
EP - 163
BT - The Global Community Yearbook of International Law and Jurisprudence 2018
A2 - Capaldo, Guiliana Ziccardi
PB - Oxford University Press
CY - New York
ER -