•  34
    Human Rights and Cosmopolitan Liberalism
    Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 10 (1): 29-45. 2007.
    It may be suggested that much of what goes by the name of contemporary cosmopolitanism is liberalism envisioned at the global level. It has become a common claim that the liberalism which provides the ethical content for cosmopolitanism is not tolerant enough of diverse ways of living; that liberalism’s claim to be a just referee between competing conceptions of the good life in fact hides a failure to treat diverse forms of life with an egalitarian hand. This essay argues this is a correct obse…Read more
  •  30
    Framing the Right to Democracy
    International Journal of Applied Philosophy 29 (1): 127-137. 2015.
    The question of whether democracy is a human right or not has received increased attention in recent years from philosophers, and in the light of recent world events, from the general public. Tom Campbell provides a minimalist strategy to support the human rights status of democracy, one linked to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent developments in International Law and global institutions. I suggest that we need to consider the question at a more philosophical level and arg…Read more
  •  27
    Conceiving human rights without ontology
    Human Rights Review 6 (2): 5-24. 2005.
    In his book, World Poverty and Human Rights, Pogge sets out to articulate an approach to basic justice that is inversal and cosmopolitan. This notion of justice is to be articulated through the language of human rights. Pogge’s arguments about justice, moral universalism and cosmopolitanism are impressive and reward serious study. It is to be hoped. indeed, that many aspects of his argument might be adopted by the elite ruling classes of world politics; they have much to offer in the project of …Read more
  •  25
    Human Rights and the Defense of Liberal Democracy
    Journal of Religious Ethics 35 (4): 731-750. 2007.
    ABSTRACT In recent issues of the Journal of Religious Ethics (2006, 2007), David Little has defended the contemporary regime of international human rights against what he thinks of as the relativizing influences of the genealogical “just‐so” story told by Jeffrey Stout in his Democracy and Tradition (2004). I argue that Stout is correct about just‐so stories, and that Little does not go far enough in his reclamation of liberalism against Stout's “new traditionalists.” The main weaknesses of Litt…Read more
  •  20
    The Meanings of Human Rights
    Contemporary Political Theory 15 (1). 2016.
  •  8
    Religion and the defence of human rights
    Overland 181 64-68. 2005.
    Published version of the paper reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher.
  •  6
    Liberal theory and the history of liberal rule
    Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 11 (3): 353-356. 2008.
    No abstract
  •  1
    Letters, Notes, & Comments
    Journal of Religious Ethics 35 (4). 2007.
    In recent issues of the "Journal of Religious Ethics" (2006, 2007), David Little has defended the contemporary regime of international human rights against what he thinks of as the relativizing influences of the genealogical "just-so" story told by Jeffrey Stout in his "Democracy and Tradition" (2004). I argue that Stout is correct about just-so stories, and that Little does not go far enough in his reclamation of liberalism against Stout's "new traditionalists." The main weaknesses of Little's …Read more
  • This book, first published in 2001, makes a major contribution to the theory and practice of human rights, engaging in particular with the 'Asian values' debates of the 1990s. It is especially concerned with the tension between a universal regime of human rights and its ability to accommodate diversity. Incorporating original fieldwork from Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, the book also draws out the significance of Southeast Asian developments for international human rights discourse. The boo…Read more