RIGHTS

1. RIGHTS

A. Meaning and Theories of Rights

1. Explain as to why Jeremy Bentham dismisses the theory of natural rights as ‘nonsense upon stilts.’ (2009)
2. Comment in 150 words: Idea of Natural Rights. (2015)
3. Assess the significance of right to property in political theory. (2020)

B. Human Rights: Evolution and Generations

1. Discuss the evolution of the theories of human rights from natural rights to collective and environmental rights. (2002)
2. “Human rights are basic moral guarantees that people in all countries and cultures possess, simply because they are people”. Explain. (2008)
3. What do you understand by three generations of Human Rights? (2018)
4. Can there be universal conception of human rights? Give your arguments. (2021)
5. Human Rights are complex and contested social practice that organises relations between individuals, society and the State. Comment. (2022)

C. Cultural Relativism and Multiculturalism

1. Critically examine the cultural relativist approach to human rights. (2010)
2. Examine the multi-cultural perspectives on rights. (2012)
3. Analyse the relation between natural rights and human rights. (2013)
4. Explain Berlin’s notion of value pluralism. (2013)
5. “The implementation of human rights is regarded as a matter of changing the conduct of States.” Comment. (2016)
6. What do you understand by Multiculturalism? Discuss Bhikhu Parekh’s views. (2017)
7. Write on the Cultural Relativism. (2022)
8. Comment on multicultural perspective on rights. (2023)
9. The debate on human rights is caught between the limitations of both universalism and cultural relativism. Comment. (2024)

D. Rights as Trumps

1. Discuss the doctrine of ‘rights as trumps’. (2019)