Human Rights in Crisis ─ The Sacred and the Secular in Contemporary French Thought

Human Rights in Crisis uniquely documents recent ideas on democracy and human rights in the current French intellectual, social, and political context, arguing that the French emphasis on the interdependence of democracy and human rights as a tool for the critique and renewal of democracy is a valid contribution to the global debate on the political philosophy and the ethics of human rights. Centering on the work of four prominent, contemporary French political philosophers, namely Blandine Kriegel, Marcel Gauchet, Luc Ferry, and Etienne Balibar, Genevieve Souillac expertly examines the themes of contestation and reform that are the driving forces in the French approach to democracy and human rights. Highlighting the important and unique nature of the French public and intellectual debate on human rights and democracy, this book reveals alternative and complementary perspectives on current Anglo-American political theories. Human Rights in Crisis brings an important contribution to contemporary debates on the genealogy of human rights, providing essential reading for political theorists, law professors, and history scholars.

Genevieve Souillac is Associate Lecturer in the Department of French Studies and in the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Sydney.