Can Human Rights Survive?(Book Review‪)‬

Can Human Rights Survive? By Conor Gearty, New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Pp. xvi, 174. $22.99 (paperback). This work links together a collection of essays Gearty believes will serve as a manifesto for human rights activists and thinkers. He argues that the concept of human rights radicalizes, forcing people to recognize their similarities, and transform social structures to create equality of rights and opportunities. However, Gearty explains, this potential role for human rights has stagnated. In the modern world, where religion and philosophy have declined in popularity people find the idea of human rights lacking a value structure that motivates them to act.