The International Construction of Human Rights: The Role of International Relations

Abstract

Human rights stormed the world stage after the end of World War II. In the following decades, the concept and, especially the norms and international human rights institutions, have experienced an important development. The aim of the article is to demonstrate that this process has been immersed, in a decisive way, in international relations from the end of World War II. In this sense, the central argument is that international human rights are an object that has been shaped by the interaction among the main actors, through processes, with institutions as intermediaries and in (or “within”) structures systems that make up international relations. The paper concludes by linking the details of this discussion with the major debates of International Relations theory.