Abstract: Borrowing insights from global cultural analysis, this article argues that the increasing concern for, and elaboration of, human rights points to a world-cultural environment where the individual is increasingly regarded as sacred and inviolable. To demonstrate this, this article explores how human rights have developed historically as a `cult of the individual' and present new data on their recent worldwide expansion.
Abstract: By drawing on both human rights- and civil war research, this article presents an integrated human rights peace and conflict theory. The effects of rights violations are tested by applying quantitative research methods.
Abstract: The current legal and political practice of human rights invokes entitlements to freely chosen work, to decent working conditions, and to form and join labor unions. Despite the importance of these rights, they remain under-explored in the philosophical literature on human rights. This article offers a systematic and constructive discussion of them.