Egalitarian Rights Recognition: A Political Theory of Human Rights

Abstract

This thesis sets out the theory of ‘egalitarian rights recognition’, which is based on a novel combination of aspects of the work of Thomas Hill Green and Hannah Arendt. In doing so, it makes three key arguments. First, human rights must be grounded in social recognition, rather than in the innate qualities of the human. Second, rights recognition requires a serious commitment to equality - conversely egalitarian rights recognition provides a critical lens through which the problems of rights recognised in situations of inequality can be more clearly seen. Third, human rights, if grounded by egalitarian social recognition, are important for human freedom and flourishing. The thesis concludes by applying the theory of egalitarian rights recognition to the international level, arguing that rights recognition can provide a more plausible basis for cosmopolitanism than natural rights, and thus for human rights, rather than rights within a certain state.