Agamben and the Politics of Human Rights

Download or read book Agamben and the Politics of Human Rights written by John Lechte and published by Edinburgh University Press. This book was released on 2013-05-23 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Human rights are in crisis today. Everywhere one looks, there is violence, deprivation, and oppression, which human rights norms seem powerless to prevent. This book investigates the roots of the current crisis through the thought of Italian philosopher, Giorgio Agamben. Human rights theory and practice must come to grips with key problems identified by Agamben "e; the violence of the sovereign state of exception and the reduction of humanity to 'bare' life. Any renewal of human rights today must involve breaking decisively with the traditional coordinates of Western political thought and instead affirm a new understanding of life and political action.