After evil : a politics of human rights / Robert Meister.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Meister, Robert, 1947-

Series:

Columbia studies in political thought/political history.

Columbia studies in political thought/political history

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Human rights.

Political science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (545 p.)

Place of Publication:

New York : Columbia University Press, 2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Mainstream human rights discourse speaks of such evils as the Holocaust, slavery, or apartheid in ways that put them solidly in the past. Its elaborate techniques of ""transitional"" justice encourage future generations to move forward, but the false assumption of closure enables those who are guilty to elude responsibility. This approach to history, common to late-twentieth-century humanitarianism, doesn't presuppose that evil ends only when justice begins. Rather, it assumes that a time before justice is the moment to put evil in the past. Merging examples from literature and history, Rober

Contents:

Contents; Preface: My Task; Introduction: Disavowing Evil; 1. The Ideology and Ethicsof Human Rights; 2. Ways of Winning; 3. Living On; 4. The Dialectic of Race and Place; 5. "Never Again"; 6. Still the Jewish Question?; 7. Bystanders and Victims; 8. Adverse Possession; 9. States of "Emergency"; 10. Surviving Catastrophe; Conclusion: Justice in Time; Acknowledgments; Notes; References; Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780231520959

0231520956

OCLC:

818856244