Before Rights

• In Event: 2129 - Section on Comparative-Historical Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 5. Policy, Rights, and Population

Abstract

Rights scholars and historians often focus on the explosive moments when a new rights paradigm emerges and alters the social and political trajectories of those within its domain. Founding, Reconstruction, the emergence of international human rights after World War II, and the Civil Rights Movement, for instance, are just a few such moments.

But what happens before a particular right or set of rights is enshrined in law? What happens before a particular right becomes a rallying cry for individuals and social movement actors? What conditions must be present for a right to become even the faintest glint of an idea?

This paper argues that in 2019, we are in the midst of a "pre-conditional moment" for rights creation. Unfortunately, the indicators, opportunities, and pitfalls associated with this formative moment have been overlooked in rights scholarship.

In this project a simple, yet crucial, question is proposed and explored: What comes before rights?

Author

• Christopher Nigel Roberts, University of Minnesota