ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores how social rights have come to be acknowledged as 'human rights' in the contemporary era, how such rights are conceptualized in the context of contemporary Russia, and how non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Russia attempt to advocate for such rights. It looks at the institution of the regional human rights ombudsmen in Russia – state representatives charged with dealing with complaints of human rights violations submitted to them by members of the public. The book discusses the ways in which social rights were and are understood in the imperial, Soviet and contemporary Russian periods. It traces their development from the nineteenth century, when these rights first began to be properly defined and agitated for in Russia through their elevation to a position of particular social, political and constitutional importance during the Soviet era.
