Exploring Social Rights: Between Theory and Practice

Exploring Social Rights - now in paperback - looks into the theoretical and practical implications of social rights. The book's contributions are organized in five parts. Part I considers theoretical aspects of social rights and looks into their place within political and legal theory and within the human rights tradition. Part II looks at the status of social rights in international law, with reference to the challenge of globalization and to the significance of specific regional regulation (such as the European System). Part III includes discussions of various legal systems which are of special interest in this area: Canada, South Africa, India, and Israel. Part IV examines the content of a few central social rights, such as the right to education and the right to health. Part V discusses the relevance of social rights to distinct social groups, such as women and people with disabilities. The book also challenges the separation of rights into distinct categories and questions the division of rights to 'civil' vs. 'social' rights from a perspective which considers all rights as 'social.' This book will be of interest to anyone concerned with human rights, the legal protection of social rights, and social policy.