While the 1960s marked a rights revolution in the United States, the subsequent decades have witnessed a rights revolution around the globe, a revolution that for many is a sign of the advancement of democracy. But is the act of rights claiming a form of political contestation that advances democracy? Rights language is ubiquitous in national and international politics today, yet nagging suspicions remain about the compatibility between the practice of rights claiming and democratic politics. While critics argue that rights reinforce ways of thinking and being that undermine democratic values and participatory practices, even champions worry that rights lack the legitimacy and universality necessary to bring democratic aspirations to fruition.
Making Rights Claims provides a unique entree into these important and timely debates. Rather than simply taking a side for or against rights claiming, the book argues that understanding and assessing the relationship between rights and democracy requires a new approach to the study of rights. Zivi combines insights from speech act theory with recent developments in democratic and feminist thought to develop a theory of the performativity of rights claiming. If we understand rights claims as performative utterances and acts of persuasion, we come to see that by saying "I have a right," we constitute and reconstitute ourselves as democratic citizens, shape our communities, and transform constraining categories of identity in ways that may simultaneously advance and challenge aspects of democracy. Furthermore, we begin to understand that rights claiming is not a wholly rule bound practice. To illustrate her theory, Zivi discusses different sides of two recent rights debates: mandatory HIV testing of pregnant women and the new immigration laws.
Industry Reviews
"Making Rights Claims is a very important book, exploring as it does the paradoxical position of rights as both a 'global language of political reform' and a frequent target of criticism. Adopting a constitutive perspective on rights, Zivi's book is an interdisciplinary tour de force. It is one of the most important treatments of rights to come along in a long time."
--Austin Sarat, William Nelson Cromwell Professor of Jurisprudence and Political Science, Amherst College
"In this stellar book, Karen Zivi realigns the theorization of rights with 'agonistic' theories of democracy that have put traditional liberalisms under scrutiny. Using Judith Butler's concept of 'performativity' she takes issue with Wendy Brown's critique of 'rights-politics,' writing in very clear language and deploying intriguing and controversial case studies. Unusually, Zivi starts the story with a pertinent and easy-to-read survey of the analytical
tradition of rights-analysis begun in the 1960s. This is an invaluable work on the most important topics today in political theory and practice."
-Terrell Carver, Professor of Political Theory, University of Bristol
"Zivi (Grand Valley State Univ.) offers a compelling analysis of rights, successfully countering critics of rights-based politics. ... Zivi effectively argues that Michel Foucault ought to be read as supporting rights claims as a challenge to norms and state power. This fundamental reordering of the debate over rights will reverberate for years to come. Highly recommended." --Choice
"Karen Zivi eloquently and persuasively argues that it is the democratic character of the process of making rights claims that underlines the continued and increasing popularity of human rights talk as a language of political reform."--Political Studies Review
