Charting Global Responsibilities

This book examines alternative philosophical conceptions of legal interpretation as a way of making sense of international human rights as they bear on government and multinational business activities. Today the dominant philosophies of law pertaining to rights interpretation are positivism, realism, and law-as-integrity. The author advocates a modified law-as-integrity approach to international law. Such a conception identifies interpretations of human rights with normative theoriesóelaborated by an idealized jurist, Grotiusówhich seeks to take rights seriously by giving the best possible justifications for settled doctrine. Contents: Preface; Introduction; Jurisprudential Paradigms for International Human Rights; Legal Positivism: Human Rights as "Plain Fact"; Legal Realism and Critical Theory: Human Rights as the "Fictions" of Factions; Law-as-Integrity: Mediating Law, Morality, and Human Rights in a Global Context; Interpretative Contexts for Global Responsibilities; Interpreting Human Rights Texts; The International Community as the "Audience" of Human Rights; Justifying Institutional Theories of Human Rights; Appendix.