International human rights law has emerged as an academic subject in its own right, separate from, but still related to international law. This book explains the distinctive nature of this discipline by examining the influence of the idea of human rights on general international law. Rather than make use of a particular moral philosophy or political theory, it explains human rights by examining the way the term is deployed in legal practice, on the understanding that words are given meaning through their use. Relying on complexity theory to make sense of the legal practice of the United Nations, the core human rights treaties, and customary international law, the work demonstrates the emergence of the moral concept of human rights as a fact of the social world. It reveals the dynamic nature of this concept, and the influence of the idea on the legal practice, a fact that explains the fragmentation of international law and special nature of international human rights law.

About the Author
Steven Wheatley is Professor of International Law at the University of Lancaster. He has written extensively on the subject of human rights, including Democracy, Minorities and International Law (CUP, 2005) and The Democratic Legitimacy of International Law (Hart, 2010).

Reviews
This is a thought-provoking book with an innovative argument that is not only relevant in terms of IHRL but also in the application of complexity theory to legal research and IL. Overall, it presents a compelling argument that will hopefully spark a debate about the use of complexity theory approaches in the analysis of IL and IHRL. For scholars interested in human rights and complexity theory, this book makes an important contribution to the literature in offering a way to conceptualise the UN and the IL system as a complex network, and also opens the door for the inclusion of new methodologies for analysing the formulation and interpretation of legal rules in IHRL and IL. * Jinu Carvajalino, Human Rights Law Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198749844
Author Steven Wheatley
Format Hardback
Page Count 230
Imprint Oxford University Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Weight(grams) 518g
Dimensions(mm) 237mm * 164mm * 20mm