ABSTRACT
The centre of gravity of struggles for human rights is now emphatically in the South, but this is contested, on the interwoven terrains of definition and legitimate action the conceit that human rights emanate from liberal democracy still dominates. Simpson draws attention to the prevalence of what he calls the ‘export theory of human rights’ in countries like Britain:
This may be put in a pejorative way: human rights were for foreigners, who did not enjoy them, not for the British, who enjoyed them anyway. They were for export. The export theory of human rights was and indeed still is shared by all the major powers.
