Inventing Human Rights: A History by Lynn Hunt

Review by: Bonny Ibhawoh

International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-), Vol. 83, No. 6, Africa
and Security (Nov., 2007), pp. 1193-1194
Published by: Wiley on behalf of the Royal Institute of International Affairs
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4541918 .
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 Bookreviews

Human andethics
rights
Inventinghumanrights:a history. ByLynnHunt.NewYork:W.W. Norton& Company.
2007.
272pp.Index.$29.95. IsBN0 39306095o.

Contemporary humanrights scholarship suffers fromtwomajorflaws. itistrapped

First, inanintel-
lectualtradition of linearprogressivism thattendsto hinderproperunderstanding of thenuances
inherentintheideaofhumanrights. Thetrend hasbeentopresent humanrights-despite frequent
setbacksandmanycontradictions-as partofthesagaofrelentless humanprogress. Thesecondflaw
is theoverwhelmingly presentist character of humanrights scholarship, reflectedin an inordinate
preoccupation with thehere and now.
LynnHunt'sInventing human rights addresses bothflaws.It marksan important additionto the
growing bodyofscholarly worksthatseektobringdistinctly historicalperspectivestothesubject of
humanrights. Focusing ontheAmerican andFrench Revolutions andtheDeclarations theyinspired,
Hunttraces theimpact ofenlightenment ideasonthesocialandpolitical expansion ofhumanrights.
Theequality, universality and naturalness of rights gaineddirect political
expression forthefirst time
in theAmerican Declaration of Independence of 1776andtheFrenchDeclaration of theRightsof
ManandCitizenof 1789.Thesedevelopments underscore a 'suddencrystallization ofhumanrights
claimsattheendoftheeighteenth century' (p. 20).
Whatthisbookso eloquently reminds usofarethetensions andcontradictions thathavehistori-
callyunderlined ideasabouthumanrights. Thosewhoconfidently declared rightstobe universal in
theeighteenth century turned out to have something much lessall-inclusive
in mind. They excluded
thosewithout property, slaves,womenandreligious minorities
from fullparticipation inthepolitical
process.Hunttakestheposition thatwhilewe shouldnotforget theseglaring restrictionsplacedon
rightsbyeighteenth-century men,we shouldnotstopthere.The bookexploreshow thesemen,
livinginsocietiesbuiltonslavery, subordination andseemingly natural subservience,cametoimagine
men(andsometimes women)notatalllikethemas equals.This,theauthorargues, is crucialto the
historyofhumanrights.
One of themostinteresting contributions in thisstudyis theconnection thatit makesbetween
changes in social attitudes and the expansion of human rights. Drawing BenedictAnderson's
on
Imaginedcommunities (1991),Hunt argues that 'imagined empathy' servedas thefoundations of the
socialandpoliticaltransformations thatrevolutionized thenotionofhumanrights. The notionsof
bodilyintegrity andempathetic selfhood havehistories notunlikethoseof humanrights, to which
theyareintimately related(p. 30).Learning to empathize, alongwithnewconcernforthehuman
body,ledtothepublicrejection ofjudicialtorture thatopenedthepathto humanrights.
Whilemostof Hunt'sarguments areconvincing someseemfarfetched. One exampleis her
that
suggestion reading of accounts of torture had 'physicaleffectsthattranslatedintobrainchanges
andcamebackoutas newconcepts abouttheorganizations of socialandpoliticallife'(p. 33).This
claimappearsto dabbleintotherealmof psychoanalysis thatis hardlytheprovinceof thehisto-
rian.Another shortcoming thatsomewillfindwiththisbookis thatitis decidedly Eurocentric. By

II93
International 83:6,2007
Affairs
© 2007 The Author(s).
JournalCompilation
© 2007BlackwellPublishing of International
Ltd/TheRoyalInstitute

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Bookreviews

limitinga discussion
on the'Inventionofhumanrights' to thehistory
ofthewestern world,Hunt
lendscredence totheconstruction ofhumanrightsas something inventedintheWestandexported
to therestof theworld.Unlessusedfiguratively,theterm'invention' clearlygetsin thewayof a
fullhistorical of the
understanding complex cross-cultural bywhichhumanrights
processes ideas
haveevolved.Itimpliestooone-sided a happening.In all,however,
thisbookbrings a welcomeand
refreshing tohumanrights
perspective scholarship.
McMaster
Ibhawoh,
Bonny Canada
University,

Ethics in action: the ethical challengesof internationalhumanrightsnon-govermental

organizations.Edited by Daniel A. Bell and Jean-MarcCoicaud. Cambridge:Cambridge
University O 52168449
Press.2007.320pp.Index.Pb.: £I9.99. ISBN

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