The Constitution informs every aspect of our legal system and every instance of interpretation and application of that system. The Bill of Rights Handbook’s detailed coverage of all aspects of Bill of Rights jurisprudence and practice has made it the standard reference work for this important area of law, and it has been extensively relied upon and quoted by the judiciary.

The sixth edition of the Handbook is a comprehensive account of over two decades of jurisprudence interpreting and applying the Bill of Rights. The work has been thoroughly revised, in particular to cover developments in the areas of constitutional jurisdiction, remedies and socio-economic rights.

It has been well-established that many of the injustices that people around the world experience every day, from food insecurity to unsafe labor conditions and natural disasters, are the result of wide-scale structural problems of politics and economics. These are not merely random personal problems or consequences of bad luck or bad planning. Confronted by this fact, it is natural to ask what should or can we do to mitigate everyday injustices? In one sense, we answer this question when we buy the local homeless street newspaper, decide where to buy our clothes, remember our reusable bags when we shop, donate to disaster relief, or send letters to corporations about labor rights. But given the global scale of injustices related to poverty, environmental change, gender, and labor, can these individual acts really impact the seemingly intractable global social, political, and economic structures that perpetuate and exacerbate them? Moreover, can we respond to injustices in the world in ways that do more than just address their consequences? In this book, Brooke A. Ackerly both answers the question of what should we do, and shows that it's the wrong question to ask. To ask the right question, we need to ground our normative theory of global justice in the lived experience of injustice. Using a feminist critical methodology, she argues that what to do about injustice is not just an ethical or moral question, but a political question about assuming responsibility for injustice, regardless of our causal responsibility and extent of our knowledge of the injustice. Furthermore, it is a matter that needs to be guided by principles of human rights. As she argues, while many understand human rights as political goals or entitlements, they can also guide political strategy. Her aims are twofold: to present a theory of what it means to take responsibility for injustice and for ensuring human rights, as well as to develop a guide for how to take responsibility in ways that support local and global movements for transformative politics. In order to illustrate her theory and guide for action, Ackerly draws on fieldwork on the Rana Plaza collapse in 2013, the food crisis of 2008, and strategies from 125 activist organizations working on women's and labor rights across 26 countries. Just Responsibility integrates these ways of taking political responsibility into a rich theory of political community, accountability, and leadership in which taking responsibility for injustice itself transforms the fabric of political life.

EU Asylum and Immigration Law examines in detail the EU legislation and case law on the issues of immigration, asylum, visas and border controls, discussing the impact and ongoing development of EU law in these complex and controversial areas. The updated edition particularly covers new EU legislation, case law, and operational developments since 2010 on: internal border checks; external border controls; visa lists; litigation to obtain a visa; the Schengen Information System; the Visa Information System; family reunion; non-EU students; long-term residents; all aspects of refugee law (including the definition of 'refugee' and subsidiarity protection, the rights of asylum-seekers, and Member States' responsibility for asylum-seekers); and irregular migrants' rights. It also covers the institutional framework for these issues, the related human rights aspects, and the connections with other areas of EU law, like the free movement of EU citizens. Steve Peers' seminal text on the justice and home affairs law of the European Union appears in its fourth edition and is now available in two separate volumes covering asylum and immigration law, and criminal law, policing, and civil law, and as a two-volume set. It provides a detailed examination of EU legislation and case law on the issues of immigration, asylum, visas, border controls, and police and criminal law cooperation, discussing the impact and ongoing development of EU law. This edition is the definitive guide to these intricate, contentious, and fast-developing areas of EU law, and will be invaluable to scholars, practitioners, and students in the field.

Winner of the 2016 Max van der Stoel Human Rights Award.Dialogue is the new buzzword for the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention) system. Judges throughout Europe have welcomed and encouraged dialogue, and references to the notion have become commonplace at conferences and in academic writing. Yet although the buzz has intensified, exactly why dialogue can be of added value is not often examined. Nor do those who rely on the notion usually explain how exactly it can be operationalised in a practical sense. This volume dissects the common-sense realisation that dialogue adds value to the Convention system, within which the State Parties, the Court, the Committee of Ministers (Committee), the Parliamentary Assembly (Assembly), and the Commissioner for Human Rights (Commissioner) interact. The question of why dialogue should occur is answered through an account of the way the system is established and how it functions, and of the developments and reform it has experienced. The second aim of the volume is to establish whether Convention dialogue does indeed live up to its potential added value. For this purpose, 26 procedures and 'procedural steps' are investigated in the light of 'indicators of dialogue'. The procedures include third-party interventions, the pilot-judgment procedure, and the Committee's Human Rights meetings. Both the procedures' dialogic potential on paper and their 'dialogicness' in practice are assessed, based in part on interviews with inter alia the Court's judges, agents representing the states before the Court, and persons monitoring the execution of the Courts judgments. This volume will be of use to those who are interested in the notion of (Convention) dialogue and its theoretical underpinnings, and those who would like to know more about Convention-related procedures, the execution of the Court's judgments, and the role that the Assembly and the Commissioner can play in the Convention system.

The Economics of Immigration summarizes the best social science studying the actual impact of immigration, which is found to be at odds with popular fears. Greater flows of immigration have the potential to substantially increase world income and reduce extreme poverty. Existing evidence indicates that immigration slightly enhances the wealth of natives born in destination countries while doing little to harm the job prospects or reduce the wages of most of the native-born population. Similarly, although a matter of debate, most credible scholarly estimates of the net fiscal impact of current migration find only small positive or negative impacts. Importantly, current generations of immigrants do not appear to be assimilating more slowly than prior waves. Although the range of debate on the consequences of immigration is much narrower in scholarly circles than in the general public, that does not mean that all social scientists agree on what a desirable immigration policy embodies. The second half of this book contains three chapters, each by a social scientist who is knowledgeable of the scholarship summarized in the first half of the book, which argue for very different policy immigration policies. One proposes to significantly cut current levels of immigration. Another suggests an auction market for immigration permits. The third proposes open borders. The final chapter surveys the policy opinions of other immigration experts and explores the factors that lead reasonable social scientists to disagree on matters of immigration policy.

The fifth edition of this highly praised study charts and explains the progress that continues to be made towards the goal of worldwide abolition of the death penalty. The majority of nations have now abolished the death penalty and the number of executions has dropped in almost all countries where abolition has not yet taken place. Emphasising the impact of international human rights principles and evidence of abuse, the authors examine how this has fuelled challenges to the death penalty and they analyse and appraise the likely obstacles, political and cultural, to further abolition. They discuss the cruel realities of the death penalty and the failure of international standards always to ensure fair trials and to avoid arbitrariness, discrimination and conviction of the innocent: all violations of the right to life. They provide further evidence of the lack of a general deterrent effect; shed new light on the influence and limits of public opinion; and argue that substituting for the death penalty life imprisonment without parole raises many similar human rights concerns. This edition provides a strong intellectual and evidential basis for regarding capital punishment as undeniably cruel, inhuman and degrading. Widely relied upon and fully updated to reflect the current state of affairs worldwide, this is an invaluable resource for all those who study the death penalty and work towards its removal as an international goal.

When considering the structures that drive the global diffusion of human rights norms, Brian Greenhill argues that we need to look beyond institutions that are explicitly committed to human rights and instead focus on the dense web of international government organizations (IGOs)-some big, some small; some focused on human rights; some not-that has arisen in the last two generations. While most of these organizations have no direct connection to human rights issues, their participation in broader IGO networks has important implications for the human rights practices of their member states. Featuring a rigorous empirical analysis, Transmitting Rights shows that countries tend to adopt similar human rights practices to those of their IGO partners, whether for better or worse. Greenhill argues that IGOs constitute a tightly-woven fabric of ties between states and that this network provides an important channel through which states can influence the behavior of others. Indeed, his analysis suggests that a policy of isolating "rogue" states is probably self-defeating given that this will reduce their exposure to some of the more positive IGO-based influences on their human rights. Greenhill's analysis of the role of IGOs in rights diffusion will not only increase our understanding of the international politics of human rights; it will also reshape how we think about the role of international institutions in world politics.

In the United States and Europe, an increasing emphasis on equality has pitted rights claims against each other, raising profound philosophical, moral, legal, and political questions about the meaning and reach of religious liberty. Nowhere has this conflict been more salient than in the debate between claims of religious freedom, on one hand, and equal rights claims made on the behalf of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, on the other. As new rights for LGBT individuals have expanded in liberal democracies across the West, longstanding rights of religious freedom - such as the rights of religious communities to adhere to their fundamental teachings, including protecting the rights of conscience; the rights of parents to impart their religious beliefs to their children; and the liberty to advance religiously-based moral arguments as a rationale for laws - have suffered a corresponding decline. Timothy Samuel Shah, Thomas F. Farr, and Jack Friedman's volume, Religious Freedom and Gay Rights brings together some of the world's leading thinkers on religion, morality, politics, and law to analyze the emerging tensions between religious freedom and gay rights in three key geographic regions: the United States, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe. What implications will expanding regimes of equality rights for LGBT individuals have on religious freedom in these regions? What are the legal and moral frameworks that govern tensions between gay rights and religious freedom? How are these tensions illustrated in particular legal, political, and policy controversies? And what is the proper way to balance new claims of equality against existing claims for freedom of religious groups and individuals? Religious Freedom and Gay Rights offers several explorations of these questions.

A surprisingly understudied topic in international relations is that of gender-based asylum, even though the tactic has been adopted in an increasing number of countries in the global north and west. Those adjudicating gender-based asylum cases must investicate the specific category of gender violence committed against the asylum-seeker, as well as the role of the asylum-seeker's home state in being complicit with such violence. As Nayak argues, it matters not just that but how we respond to gender violence and persecution. Feminist advocates, U.S. governmental officials, and asylum adjudicators have articulated different "frames" for different types of gender violence, promoting ideas about how to categorize violence, its causes, and who counts as its victims. These frames, in turn, may be used successfully to grant asylum to persecuted migrants; however, the frames are also very narrow and limited. This is because the U.S. must negotiate the tension between immigration restriction and human rights obligations to protect refugees from persecution. The effects of the asylum frames are two-fold. First, they leave out or distort the stories and experiences of asylum-seekers who do not "fit" the frames. Second, the frames reflect but also serve as an entry point to deepen, strengthen, and shape the U.S. position of power relative to other countries, international organizations, and immigrant communities. This book explores the politics of gender-based asylum through a comparative examination of asylum policy and cases regarding domestic violence, female circumcision, rape, trafficking, coercive sterilization/abortion, and persecution based on sexual and gender identity.

This important Research Handbook provides a holistic analysis of the development of the European Union's migration and asylum policies. It comprehensively examines facets of each policy, including insights from cutting-edge research and an in-depth analysis of their development, whilst also identifying future policy orientation. Featuring contributions from key legal specialists in EU migration and asylum law, chapters in this Research Handbook consider a variety of issues including, but not limited to, the role of the institutional framework, visas, borders, family and labour migration, refugee protection, mobility, solidarity, and externalisation. It also offers an examination of the effect of the migration 'crisis' on EU asylum and migration law and the potential legal changes this may cause, as well as a survey of the developments of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum presented by the European Commission in 2020. Topical and comprehensive, the Research Handbook on EU Migration and Asylum Law is a must read for students and academics interested in EU law, human rights, migration, and refugee law and politics. Its insights will also help to inform the work of practitioners and policy makers, and other experts in the areas of migration, asylum, EU law, and EU integration.

Although many modern philosophers of law describe custom as merely a minor source of law, formal law is actually only one source of the legal customs that govern us. Many laws grow out of custom, and one measure of a law's success is by its creation of an enduring legal custom. Yet custom and customary law have long been neglected topics in unsettled jurisprudential debate. Smaller concerns, such as whether customs can be legitimized by practice or by stipulation, stipulated by an authority or by general consent, or dictated by law or vice versa, lead to broader questions of law and custom as alternative or mutually exclusive modes of social regulation, and whether rational reflection in general ought to replace sub-rational prejudice. Can legal rules function without customary usage, and does custom even matter in society? The Philosophy of Customary Law brings greater theoretical clarity to the often murky topic of custom by showing that custom must be analyzed into two more logically basic concepts: convention and habit. James Bernard Murphy explores the nature and significance of custom and customary law, and how conventions relate to habits in the four classic theories of Aristotle, Francisco Suarez, Jeremy Bentham, and James C. Carter. He establishes that customs are conventional habits and habitual conventions, and allows us to better grasp the many roles that custom plays in a legal system by offering a new foundation of understanding for these concepts.

This book provides an overview of the state of EU migration law in 2014. It explores the meaning of EU legislation on migration in the light of fundamental rights and principles of Union law as explained in leading case-law of the European courts. It is especially aimed at students, but may likewise be useful for practitioners, policy makers or others interested in the legal foundations of migration in Europe. Today's Union law contains a comprehensive and almost all-encompassing migration law system. It governs both voluntary and forced migration. It controls entry, residence and return. It covers both Union citizens and third-country nationals. Though there are fields not affected by Union law and left to the Member States, the overall picture drawn by the existing EU instruments is fairly complete. The book purports to present as lucidly as possible, in one framework, the different regimes as they pertain to the free movement of Union citizens, the association agreement with Turkey, the migration of third country nationals for reasons of work, study, family reunification and asylum, the regulation of movement of third country nationals to, from and within the Schengen area, and instruments to control migration. This second edition is written by the same authors who wrote the first edition. Pieter Boeles, Emeritus Professor of Migration law at the University of Leiden, is now Visiting Professor at VU University Amsterdam; Maarten den Heijer is Assistant Professor of International Law at the Amsterdam Center for International Law (University of Amsterdam); Gerrie Lodder is Senior Lecturer in Immigration Law at the University of Leiden and Kees Wouters is Senior Refugee Law adviser at the Division of International Protection of UNHCR in Geneva.

Equality is an ideal to which we all aspire. Yet the more closely we examine it, the more its meaning shifts. How do we explain how equal treatment can in effect lead to inequality, while unequal treatment might be necessary in order to achieve equality? The apparent paradox can be understood if we accept that equality can be formulated in different ways, depending on which underlying conception is chosen. In this highly readable yet challenging book, Sandra Fredman examines the ways in which discrimination law addresses these questions.
The new edition retains the format of the highly successful first edition, while incorporating the many new developments in discrimination law since 2002, including the Equality Act 2010, human rights law, and EU law. By using a thematic approach, the book illuminates the major issues in discrimination law, while at the same time imparting a detailed understanding of the legal provisions. The comparative approach is particularly helpful; by examining comparable law in the US, India, Canada, and South Africa, as well as the UK, the book exposes common problems and canvasses differing solutions. As in the previous edition, the book locates discrimination in its wider social and historical context. Drawing on the author's wide experience of equality law in many jurisdictions, she creates an analytic framework to assess the substantive law.
The book is a thought-provoking and accessible overview of the way in which equality law has adjusted to new and increasingly complex challenges. It concludes that progress has been evident, but uneven. Those dedicated to equality still face an exacting, but ultimately deeply rewarding, task.

This is a concise and accessible introduction to fundamental rights in Europe from the perspectives of history, theory and an analysis of European jurisprudence. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, the book equips readers with the tools to understand the foundations and the functioning of this complex and multi-layered topic. Key Features: A combination of historical and philosophical approaches with analysis of significant legal cases A multidisciplinary outlook, in contrast to the strict legal approach of most textbooks on the subject A European perspective which refers throughout to central European values such as freedom, equality, solidarity and dignity A specific focus on fundamental rights, which have received less attention in the fields of legal history and theory in comparison to human rights This textbook will be an important resource for both undergraduate and postgraduate students in law, philosophy and political science. It will be particularly useful to those studying the law of fundamental rights or human rights as a complement to more traditional legal approaches.

Why do decision-makers in similar liberal democracies interpret the same legal definition in very different ways? International law provides states with a common definition of a 'refugee' as well as guidelines outlining how asylum claims should be decided. Yet, the processes by which countries determine who should be granted refugee status look strikingly different, even across nations with many political, cultural, geographical, and institutional commonalities. This book compares the refugee status determination (RSD) regimes of three popular asylum seeker destinations - the United States, Canada, and Australia. Despite similarly high levels of political resistance to accepting asylum seekers across these three states, once asylum seekers cross their borders, they access three very different systems. These differences are significant both in terms of asylum seekers' experience of the process and in terms of their likelihood of being found to be a refugee.
The book moves beyond the claim by some scholars that asylum seeker destinations are uniformly becoming more exclusionary, and the contrary assertions of other scholars that the same destinations are converging on a new inclusive internationalism leading to the decline of state sovereignty. Instead, Hamlin finds these states to be running on three distinct trajectories, none of which are totally restrictive or expansive. Based on a multi-method analysis of all three countries, including a year of fieldwork with in-depth interviews of policy-makers and asylum-seeker advocates, observations of refugee status determination hearings, and a large-scale case analysis, Hamlin finds that cross-national differences have less to do with political debates over admission and border control policy than with the level of insulation the administrative decision-making agency enjoys from either political interference or judicial review. Administrative justice is conceptualized and organized differently in every state, and so states vary in how they draw the line between refugee and non-refugee.

The European Court of Human Rights has long abandoned the view that human rights merely impose obligations of restraint on State authorities (so-called negative obligations). In addition, States are under positive obligations to take steps to actively protect and ensure the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights. While the concept of positive obligations has become increasingly important in the jurisprudence of the European Court, it remains relatively underexplored in the literature. This book goes beyond the existing scholarship by analytically, critically and normatively engaging with the Court's positive obligations case law in a comprehensive and in-depth manner.The book begins by providing an overview of the Court's jurisprudence in this area. Building upon this overview, it brings to the fore the legal methodological consequences attached by the Court to the labels of positive and negative obligations. It moreover critically examines how the Court constructs the distinction between positive and negative obligations, building upon the underlying distinctions between public authorities and private entities, on the one hand, and State action and inaction, on the other. The central argument made in this volume is that in a positive State, in which the authorities have affirmatively intervened in so many areas, it has become increasingly difficult to draw a baseline to properly distinguish between action and inaction. Finally, the author makes suggestions for legal methodological change. This book will prove to be highly valuable for any practitioner or academic interested in the law of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Just as Latin American countries began to transition to democracy in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the region also saw gains in social, cultural and economic gender equality. In accordance with modernization theories, women in the region have also made significant inroads into elected office. However, these gains vary a great deal between countries in Latin America. They also vary significantly at different levels of government even within the same country. Inside government arenas, representation is highly gendered with rules and norms that advantage men and disadvantage women, limiting women's access to full political power. While one might expect these variations to map onto socioeconomic and cultural conditions within each country, they don't correlate. This book makes, for the first time, a comprehensive comparison of gender and representation across the region - in seven countries - and at five different levels: the presidency, cabinets, national legislatures, political parties, and subnational governments. Overall, it argues that gender inequality in political representation in Latin America is rooted in democratic institutions and the democratic challenges and political crises facing the region. Institutions and political context not only influence the number of women and men elected to office, but also what they do once in office, the degree of power to which they gain access, and how their presence and actions influence democracy and society, more broadly. Drawing on the expertise of scholars of women, gender, and political institutions, this book is the most comprehensive analysis of women's representation in Latin America to date, and an important resource for research on women's representation worldwide. The causes, consequences, and challenges to women's representation in Latin America are not unique to that region, and the book uses Latin American patterns to draw broad conclusions about gendered representation in other areas of the world.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. Presenting a concise, yet wide-ranging and contemporary overview of the field, this Advanced Introduction to Privacy Law focuses on how we arrived at our privacy laws, and how the law can deal with new and emerging challenges from digital technologies, social networks and public health crises. This illuminating and interdisciplinary book demonstrates how the history of privacy law has been one of constant adaptation to emerging challenges, illustrating the primacy of the right to privacy amidst a changing social and cultural landscape. Key features include: Incisive analysis of the meaning and value of privacy and the ways in which legal, social and economic institutions respond to our understanding of privacy in contemporary society A uniquely concise, contextual approach to privacy law, examining privacy as a constantly evolving social phenomenon and the legal implications of its mutability Historical and comparative insights into privacy and data protection laws across the common law world. This richly detailed book is an informative and thought-provoking resource for students, academics and practitioners of privacy and data protection law. Its interdisciplinary insights will also appeal to those working in legal history, media and cultural studies, economics and political science.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences, business and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This Advanced Introduction offers a succinct yet comprehensive introduction to the multidisciplinary field of children's rights. Inspired by the dilemma of difference in the discussion of children's rights, chapters explore the equal rights that children share with adults as well as their differentiated and special rights. Key Features: Accessible, conceptually-grounded exploration of the contemporary children's rights debates Inclusive and multifaceted overview of children's rights within the human rights paradigm Forward looking perspectives and discussion of the future of children's rights Approaching the topic of children's rights firmly within the human rights paradigm, this Advanced Introduction will be a valuable companion for students and academics interested in children's rights, human rights and international law. Legal scholars and policy-makers looking to gain insight into key areas in children's rights will also find this book an interesting read.

The first time Ravi Shankar was arrested, he spoke out against racist policing on National Public Radio and successfully sued the city of New York. The second time, he was incarcerated when his promotion to full professor was finalized. During his ninety-day pretrial confinement at the Hartford Correctional Center--a level 4, high-security urban jail in Connecticut--he met men who shared harrowing and heart-felt stories. The experience taught him about the persistence of structural racism, the limitations of mass media, and the pervasive traumas of twenty-first-century daily life. Shankar's bold and complex self-portrait--and portrait of America--challenges us to rethink our complicity in the criminal justice system and mental health policies that perpetuate inequity and harm. Correctional dives into the inner workings of his mind and heart, framing his unexpected encounters with law and order through the lenses of race, class, privilege, and his bicultural upbringing as the first and only son of South Indian immigrants. Vignettes from his early life set the scene for his spectacular fall and subsequent struggle to come to terms with his own demons. Many of them, it turns out, are also our own.

This forward-looking book provides an in-depth analysis of the major transformations of the right to health in Latin America over the past decades, marked by the turn towards the pharmaceuticalisation of health care. Everaldo Lamprea-Montealegre investigates how health-based litigation has deepened inequalities in the global South, exploring the practices of key actors that are reclaiming the right to health in the region. Taking a deep dive into the health care systems of Brazil and Colombia, Local Maladies, Global Remedies illustrates how transnational pharmaceutical companies are influencing the litigation of health rights, from moulding doctors' preferences for branded drugs to controlling the availability of cheaper generics and bio-similars. The book deploys a wide range of theoretical perspectives and insights from socio-legal literature to map out the practices of stakeholders that are reclaiming the right to health in Latin America. Its concluding remarks propose a set of remedies to help alleviate the challenges faced by global South countries when trying to guarantee their population's right to health, ultimately calling for a major shift of decision-making responsibilities from a local to a global level. The wide-ranging, interdisciplinary scope of this cutting-edge book will benefit scholars, practitioners, policymakers, and students operating at the intersections between socio-legal studies, sociology, health anthropology, public health, globalisation, and human rights.

This important book provides a comprehensive analysis of good-fit and home-grown approaches for advancing business and human rights norms across Africa. It explores the latest developments in law, regulations, policies, and governance structures across the continent, focusing on key legal innovations in response to human rights impacts of business operations and activities. Featuring contributions from expert scholars and practitioners, the book provides a complete survey of the multifarious regulatory and institutional gaps that limit the coherent development and application of business and human rights law and practice at national and regional levels in Africa. Chapters discuss practical barriers to effective implementation, how such barriers could be addressed through innovative approaches, and the local contexts for the implementation of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in Africa. Thematic sections offer conceptual and theoretical reflections on how African countries can effectively mainstream human rights standards and considerations into all aspects of development planning and decision-making. Business and Human Rights Law and Practice in Africa will be a key resource for academics, practitioners, policy makers and students in the fields of governance, human rights, corporate law and public international law, who are interested in responsible and rights-based business practices in Africa. The guidance and rules provided for integrating human rights into project design and implementation will also be useful for corporate bodies and financial institutions.

In an age of intolerance where religious persecution is widespread, Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan explores how societies can promote freedom of religion or belief as a fundamental right of citizens Examining the extent of religious persecution throughout the world, this cutting-edge book explores mechanisms to address religious intolerance and develop religious freedom, outlining the necessary factors to measure progress on the protection of this fundamental human right. Chapters explore how freedom of religion or belief can be institutionalized in dispositions, laws, and policies through efforts which limit negative depictions of the religious (or non-religious) Other in public discourse. Rieffer-Flanagan demonstrates how reforms that enhance the ability of civil society actors to operate can also promote freedom of religion or belief, and how states and IGOs can support these efforts. Ultimately, this innovative book proves that reforms must be continually nurtured for freedom of religion or belief to exist in society. With interview-based research and a diverse range of regional case studies, this will be a vital resource for students and scholars of philosophy, religion, human rights law and political science. Considering the role of leaders in the promotion of religious tolerance, the book will also prove invaluable to policymakers concerned with human rights and freedom of religion or belief.

Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world's leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas. This thought-provoking introduction provides an incisive overview of dignity law, a field of law emerging in every region of the globe that touches all significant aspects of the human experience. Through an examination of the burgeoning case law in this area, James R. May and Erin Daly reveal a strong overlapping consensus surrounding the meaning of human dignity as a legal right and a fundamental value of nations large and small, and how this global jurisprudence is redefining the relationship between individuals and the state. Key features include: Analyses of cases from a range of jurisdictions all over the world A history of the shift of the concept of dignity from a philosophical idea to a legally enforceable right Discussion of dignity as a value and a right in different major legal contexts, and its roots in African, Asian, European and Islamic traditions. This Advanced Introduction will be invaluable to scholars and students of law, particularly those interested in human rights, looking to understand this emerging area of law. It will inform lawyers, judges, policymakers and other advocates interested in how dignity and the law can be used to protect everyone, including the most vulnerable among us.