ABSTRACT
This chapter examines with ambivalence the status of the universal in the human rights regime and the possibilities for a new universal. It briefly discusses the semantics of the "universal" in human rights documents, whose proliferation since 1948 pluralizes the regime, and its multipronged structure (regional, national, and transnational organizations, as well as civil society). Efforts to think through the problematics of a "new universal" can be read as part of a critical strategy with "a scrupulously visible political interest," to cite G. C. Spivak. Not only is the process of universalization fundamentally political, but the universal has proved its relevance in political struggles for rights in human rights regime (HRR). The generalizable attempts to articulate a process for negotiating differences in the HRR and for moving in wider circles of agreement and commonality. From local nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to the national national human rights institutions (NHRIs) to critical regional organizations, on to Big International NGOs (BINGOs) and other parts of global civil society.
