Do Human Rights truly serve the people? Should citizens themselves decide democratically of what those rights consist? Or is it a decision for experts and the courts? Gret Haller argues that Human Rights must be established democratically. Drawing on the works of political philosophers from John Locke to Immanuel Kant, she explains why, from a philosophical point of view, liberty and equality need not be mutually exclusive. She outlines the history of the concept of Human Rights, shedding light on the historical development of factual rights, and compares how Human Rights are understood in the United States in contrast to Great Britain and Continental Europe, uncovering vast differences. The end of the Cold War presented a challenge to reexamine equality as being constitutive of freedom, yet the West has not seized this opportunity and instead allows so-called experts to define Human Rights based on individual cases. Ultimately, the highest courts revise political decisions and thereby discourage participation in the democratic shaping of political will.

Contents: The prehistory and context of human rights -- First notions of human rights -- Human rights, morals, and law -- From human rights to positive law -- Human rights, the state, and democracy -- Politics and law -- The Cold War -- Moralizing human rights -- Natural right and imposed concepts of man -- Perspectives for democratic legitimacy -- Universality and regionalization -- Repercussions from the Cold War.