THE ENDTIMES OF HUMAN RIGHTS
Book ID/图书代码： 03360013B63128
English Summary/英文概要： "We are living through the endtimes of the civilizing mission. The ineffectual International Criminal Court and its disastrous first prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, along with the failure in Syria of the Responsibility to Protect are the latest pieces of evidence not of transient misfortunes but of fatal structural defects in international humanism. Whether it is the increase in deadly attacks on aid workers, the torture and ’disappearing’ of al-Qaeda suspects by American officials, the flouting of international law by states such as Sri Lanka and Sudan, or the shambles of the Khmer Rouge tribunal in Phnom Penh, the prospect of one world under secular human rights law is receding. What seemed like a dawn is in fact a sunset. The foundations of universal liberal norms and global governance are crumbling."—from The Endtimes of Human Rights
In a book that is at once passionate and provocative, Stephen Hopgood argues, against the conventional wisdom, that the idea of universal human rights has become not only ill adapted to current realities but also overambitious and unresponsive. A shift in the global balance of power away from the United States further undermines the foundations on which the global human rights regime is based. American decline exposes the contradictions, hypocrisies and weaknesses behind the attempt to enforce this regime around the world and opens the way for resurgent religious and sovereign actors to challenge human rights.
Historically, Hopgood writes, universal humanist norms inspired a sense of secular religiosity among the new middle classes of a rapidly modernizing Europe. Human rights were the product of a particular worldview (Western European and Christian) and specific historical moments (humanitarianism in the nineteenth century, the aftermath of the Holocaust). They were an antidote to a troubling contradiction—the coexistence of a belief in progress with horrifying violence and growing inequality. The obsolescence of that founding purpose in the modern globalized world has, Hopgood asserts, transformed the institutions created to perform it, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and recently the International Criminal Court, into self-perpetuating structures of intermittent power and authority that mask their lack of democratic legitimacy and systematic ineffectiveness. At their best, they provide relief in extraordinary situations of great distress; otherwise they are serving up a mixture of false hope and unaccountability sustained by “human rights” as a global brand.
The Endtimes of Human Rights is sure to be controversial. Hopgood makes a plea for a new understanding of where hope lies for human rights, a plea that mourns the promise but rejects the reality of universalism in favor of a less predictable encounter with the diverse realities of today’s multipolar world.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： “我们正在经历文明使命的终结。无效的国际刑事法院和它极糟的第一检察官路易斯•莫雷诺•奥坎波，以及保护叙利亚的失败，这些最新证据表明这不是短暂的不幸，而是国际人道主义致命的结构缺陷。无论它是否增加了对援助工作人员的致命攻击，或美国官员对基地组织酷刑和消失的怀疑，或者如斯里兰卡和苏丹等国家一样对国际法的蔑视，还是在金边红色高棉法庭审判的混乱，人权法的前景已经在减退。你以为黎明来了，其实那是夕阳。普遍自由规范的基础和全球治理正摇摇欲坠。”——来自《最后的人权》
这是一本充满激情和挑衅的书，斯蒂芬•霍普古德反对传统的智慧，他认为普遍人权的理念不仅不适合当前的社会现实，而且过于雄心勃勃，不够灵活。全球力量的平衡在远离美国，这进一步破坏了全球人权制度的根基。美国的衰落暴露了尝试在世界各地执行这一制度背后的矛盾，虚伪和弱点，并为复活的宗教和向人权挑战的人开辟了一条道路。
霍普古德写道，从历史上看，普遍的人文主义规范在迅速发展的现代化欧洲的新中产阶级里激发了世俗的宗教感。人权是特定世界观（西欧和基督徒）以及特定的历史时刻（大屠杀后十九世纪人道主义时期）的产物。他们是令人不安的矛盾的解药——在骇人听闻的暴力和日益加剧的不平等现象存在的情况下对信念的建立。霍普古德断言，在现代全球化的世界里，那些过时的机制已经改变了体系，如红十字国际委员会和国际刑事法院最近已经进入自我保持结构的间歇性权利和权威，来掩饰自己民主合法性和系统无效方面的不足。他们做得最好的是在特殊的情况下提供了极大地经济援助，否则他们打着“人权”全球化的幌子，提供了虚假的和不负责任的希望。
《最后的人权》肯定是有争议的。霍普古德对基于人权的希望给出了新的认识，这个想法承认了承诺的无效，但拒绝现实的普遍性，赞成今天多极化的世界里较难预测多样化的现实的遭遇。（LNL）
Awards/获奖情况：《最后的人权》是一本很不错的书。斯蒂芬•霍普古德对人权制度的文化本位主义提出了一个重要但有争议的论点，并预测“教会人权”将走向终结。霍普古德绘制了文化的历史，追溯了人道主义作为欧洲一个狭隘的表达以及基督教价值观的政治基础，并且这个对通用语言的无意识地使用推进了欧洲的基督教文化和价值观。普古德把我们带到了未来的边缘，在那里我们用人权所具有的舒适的语言揭示它到底是什么：在特定的文化和历史条件下产生的语言，当这些文化不再占主导地位，全球体系中权力转移时，情况已有所改变。对于许多人来说，这将是一个难懂，甚至令人震惊的说法。——贾尼丝•斯坦，政治科学冲突管理系教授，蒙克全球事务学院，加拿大多伦多大学的主任，《崇拜效率》的作者
“《最后的人权》是这类书中能够从开始到最后一直吸引读者的书。一场关于信徒，机构，话语和意识形态的运动中，人权是核心。斯蒂芬•霍普古德断言，人权是建立在虚假的承诺上的，而其中的复杂和机智是不可避免的。因为其自身的内部矛盾，人权将腐败和扭曲，这将导致其消亡，并且西方伟大的意识形态将结束。有些人会疯狂地反对霍普古德的说法。其他人会觉得他大胆的说法很开明，很受人欢迎。但是所有的争论会被挑起。人们不可能以同样的方式去思考国际人权。”——迈克尔•巴尼特，乔治•华盛顿大学，《人类帝国》的作者：人道主义的历史
Stephen Hopgood is at the center of discussion today on BBC’s flagship show, Start the Week. Bianca Jagger, Fatima Bhutto and Howard Brenton debate with Prof. Hopgood about his conclusions in The Endtimes of Human Rights —
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03j9b3n
In addition, the book was profiled as the Book-of-the-Week in Times Higher Education for 14 November 2013 —
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/books/the-endtimes-of-human-rights-by-stephen-hopgood/2008870.article OR http://tinyurl.com/n27absj
About the Author/作者介绍： 斯蒂芬•霍普古德是伦敦大学亚非学院里国际关系方面的讲师。他是《火焰守护者》的作者：了解国际特赦组织和最后的人权，无论是康乃尔大学，美国外交环境政策还是国家的力量。 Stephen Hopgood is Reader in International Relations, SOAS, University of London. He is the author of Keepers of the Flame: Understanding Amnesty International and The Endtimes of Human Rights, both from Cornell, and American Foreign Environmental Policy and the Power of the State.
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