The Rise and Fall of Human Rights provides a groundbreaking ethnographic investigation of the Palestinian human rights world—its NGOs, activists, and "victims," as well as their politics, training, and discourse—since 1979. Though human rights activity began as a means of struggle against the Israeli occupation, in failing to end the Israeli occupation, protect basic human rights, or establish an accountable Palestinian government, the human rights industry has become the object of cynicism for many Palestinians. But far from indicating apathy, such cynicism generates a productive critique of domestic politics and Western interventionism. This book illuminates the successes and failures of Palestinians' varied engagements with human rights in their quest for independence.
Price: $30.00
Pages: 280
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Imprint: Stanford University Press
Series: Stanford Studies in Human Rights
Publication Date:
08 May 2013
Trim Size: 9.00 X 6.00 in
ISBN: 9780804784719
Format: Paperback
"In this significant book, Lori Allen tackles the rise of professionalized advocacy NGOs in Palestine in a crescendo manner . . . By offering new material on training for Palestinian police forces and by studying without preconceptions the ways in which Hamas, the Islamist party in power, has embraced a certain vision of human rights, Lori Allen provides the best material for her central claim . . . [T]he book culminates with rich and stimulating material, and Allen is to be congratulated for the innovative ways in which she approaches human rights, in contrast to culturalist arguments which deny any existence or relevance of local engagements with these principled beliefs."—Benoit Challand, Journal of Anthropological Research
Lori Allen is a University Lecturer in Contemporary Middle Eastern Politics & Society at the University of Cambridge.
