Human Rights : From the State System to Global Domestic Policy

Abstract

In this essay human rights encounter Durkheim's social - that sui generis beyond

the sum of individuals. "The social" will here be seen as structure and culture. Like "the social", the human rights were embedded in a structure with the state system up front, carrying an enlightenment culture, being a product of its context. The third human rights generation effort to accommodate peace, development and the environment inside a human rights discourse is problematic as these are social level constructs. The two pillars are shaking under globalization. The peace research discourse is an effort to elaborate epistemologies capable of accommodating such problems. A key term is "trans," like in transnational, translevel, and transdisciplinary. Human rights as they emerged are not forever, nor is "the social." Adapt or die, that is the choice.