ABSTRACT
Sceptical responses to the increasing variety of human rights claims have given rise to less 'moral' and more 'political' approaches to the philosophy of human rights. Since the early 1970s, the discourse of human rights has achieved a remarkable prominence in the domain of politics and law. Drawing on the work of Charles Beitz and Joseph Raz, this chapter endorses taking into account the existing political functions of human rights practice, including the mechanisms, which feature in their institutionalization. It then explores ways of modifying the political approach to render it more inclusive of human rights morality and more interactive with respect to the relationship between moral justifications for human rights and the objectives and mechanisms current within human rights practice. The chapter explores the advantages and the limitations of the political approach to human rights. It examines ways in which the moral and the political approaches might work.
