Human Rights and the Limits of State Action: Competing Theories and Approaches

Establishing limits on the legitimate range of state action is one of the primary functions of human rights; ¹ most human rights are held or exercised primarily in relation to one’s own government. Human rights, however, are only one of many strategies for limiting the state. In this chapter we will briefly examine three prominent alternatives to human rights, namely, natural law, the principle of utility, and prescription. Chapter 5 will consider two further alternatives. In the course of these comparisons my concern will be both to elaborate further the nature of human rights, and to suggest some of the important political and practical advantages of human rights.