Skip to main content
Log in

Human Rights and Postmodern Utopia

  • Published:
Law and Critique Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Human rights have triumphed globally but no other historical period has witnessed greater violations of their principles. Exploring this paradox through the work of Ernst Bloch and by using the psychoanalytical concept of the imaginary, the essay argues that human rights express the utopian hope for a society in which people are no longer degraded and despised. This hope however has been hijacked by governments, submerged into treaties and conventions and often leads to the dismembering and reassembly of people into synthetic entities-carriers of rights. The postmodern utopia is the hope of an (impossible) future existential unity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Douzinas, C. Human Rights and Postmodern Utopia. Law and Critique 11, 219–240 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008972026787

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1008972026787

Navigation