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Past Events

Human Rights and Their Limits

Audio:
Location: OSI-New York
Event Date: October 15, 2009
Speakers: Aryeh Neier, Wiktor Osiatynski , Richard A. Wilson

In Human Rights and Their Limits (Cambridge University Press), Wiktor Osiatyński examines how the concept of human rights has developed in waves: each call for rights serves the purpose of social groups that try to stop further proliferation of rights after their own goals are reached.

Although a state of unlimited democracy threatens rights, excessive rights can limit resources indispensable for democracy. Human Rights and Their Limits argues that although rights are a prerequisite of freedom, they should be balanced with other values that are indispensable for social harmony and personal happiness.

Speakers

  • Wiktor Osiatyński, Professor, Central European University Legal Program
  • Richard Wilson, Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Human Rights Institute, University of Connecticut
  • Aryeh Neier, President, Open Society Institute
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