On fantasy island : Britain, Europe and human rights / Conor Gearty.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gearty, C. A., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human rights--Europe.

Human rights.

Europe.

Civil rights--Europe.

Civil rights.

Great Britain--Foreign relations.

Great Britain.

International relations.

Diplomatic relations.

Physical Description:

xv, 240 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2016.

Summary:

In the 2015 UK General Election, one of the major pledges of the Conservative party was the repeal of the Human Rights Act 1998, to be replaced with a UK Bill of Rights. In this book, Professor Conor Gearty puts forth his case for keeping the Human Rights Act by dissecting the so called 'fantasies' that are driving the case for repeal. Analysing the debate through the perspective of British law, history, politics, and culture, he examines what arguments are in place for the repeal of the Act and how these can be dismissed as no more than 'English exceptionalism'. Structured in three parts, the book first exposes the myths that drive the anti-Human Rights Act argument. Second, in a counter-balance to these arguments, Gearty outlines how the Act operates in practice and what its impact really is 'on the ground'. Third, he looks to the future and the kind of Britain we want to live in, and how, for all its modesty, the survival or otherwise of the Human Rights Act will play a pivotal part in that future.

Contents:

Part I Introduction 1

1 Why the Human Rights Act Matters 3

Part II The Fantasies 15

2 The Myth of the Marvellous Past 17

3 The Seductive Power of the Present 33

4 The Inevitability of Human Rights 49

5 The Supremacy of the Human Rights Act 65

6 The Supremacy of the Judges 81

7 The Supremacy of Strasbourg 97

8 A Charter for the Bad 113

Part III The Facts 129

9 Protecting the Exposed 131

10 Making a Difference 161

11 Telling Us Who We Are 175

Part IV The Future 185

12 Repeal: How Can We Tell? 187

13 British Values: Shrinking into (Little) England 201

Part V Conclusion 213

14 Defend the Human Rights Act! 215.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780198787631

0198787634

OCLC:

958125937