Paradigms of International Human Rights Law explores the legal, ethical, and other policy consequences of three core structural features of international human rights law: the focus on individual rights instead of duties; the division of rights into substantive and nondiscrimination categories; and the use of positive and negative right paradigms. Part I explains the types of individual, corporate, and state duties available, and analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of incorporating each type of duty into the world public order, with special attention to supplementing individual rights with explicit individual and state duties. Part II evaluates how substantive rights and nondiscrimination rights are used to protect similar values through different channels; summarizes the nondiscrimination right in international practice; proposes refinements; and explains how the paradigms synergize. Part III discusses negative and positive paradigms by dispelling a common misconception about positive rights, and then justifies and defines the concept of negative rights, justifies positive rights, and concludes with a discussion of the ethical consequences of structuring the human rights system on a purely negative paradigm. For each set of alternatives, the author analyzes how human rights law incorporates the paradigms, the technical legal implications of the various alternatives, and the ethical and other policy consequences of using each alternative while dispelling common misconceptions about the paradigms and considering the arguments justifying or opposing one or the other.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTSTABLE OF ABBREVIATIONS & CITATIONSINTRODUCTIONPART I - HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL DUTIESChapter 1 - The Concept of Fundamental DutiesA. The Universal Duties Movement1. Individual Duties2. Corporate DutiesB. Five Classes of Beneficiaries of Moral Duties: A Typology1. Duties Toward Other Individuals2. Duties Toward Discrete Groups3. Duties Toward Humankind as a Whole4. Duties Toward Oneself5. Ecological DutiesC. ConclusionChapter 2 - Duties and Rights as Alternative Value ParadigmsA. Universal Human Duties as a Legal Concept1. Why Individual Duties?2. Objections to Individual Duties under IHRL3. SummaryB. Corporate Human Rights Duties as a Legal ConceptC. State Fundamental Duties as an Alternative to Individual Human Rights1. Tonal Connotations of Rights and Duties Paradigms2. Identification of the Relevant Duty Holder and Extent of Its Duties3. Ascertainment of Interests of the Right Holder and Right ClaimingPART II -NONDISCRIMINATION AND SUBSTANTIVE RIGHT CLAIMING PARADIGMSChapter 3 - Nondiscrimination as a Claiming ParadigmA. Two Methods of Value ProtectionB. The International Legal Definition of Discrimination1. Similar Situations2. Legitimate Aim3. ProportionalityC. Contextual Factors in Discrimination Analysis1. Prohibited Grounds2. The Protected Interest3. The Individual and Social Consequences of Discrimination4. Source of the Threat5. Intention to DiscriminateD. Rationalizing Nondiscrimination Doctrine1. Prohibited Grounds2. Interests Protected3. Public and Private Discriminators4. Intention to DiscriminateChapter 4 - Interchangeability and Complementarity of Substantive and Nondiscrimination ParadigmsA. The Extent and Limits of Equivalence1. General Substitutability2. Limits on Substitutability3. The Ius Cogens Question4. Group Rights and DiscriminationB. Legal Implications and Systemic Consequences of the Choice of Paradigms1. The Substantive Rights Claiming Paradigm2. The Discrimination Claiming ParadigmC. Complementarity of Nondiscrimination and Substantive Rights ClaimsPART III - NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE HUMAN RIGHTSChapter 5 - Are Negative and Positive Distinct and Meaningful Categories?A. The Conventional Distinction Between Negative and Positive Rights1. Common Definitions2. The Basis for the Negative and Positive DistinctionB. What Makes a Right Negative?C. Can There Even Be Negative Rights?D. The Concept of "Basic" Positive RightsChapter 6 - The Legal Consequences of Negative and Positive ParadigmsA. The Scope of Negative and Positive Rights1. Negative and Positive as Non-Opposites2. Nonuniformity in the Strength and Scope of Rights within Categories3. Pseudo-Positive RightsB. Complementary FramingC. Ambiguously Framed RightsChapter 7 - Structural Implications of Negative and Positive ParadigmsA. Positive Rights and Economic DevelopmentB. Is There a Negative Duty to Renounce Benefits from Injustice?C. Are Positive Rights Generally Desirable?1. Ethics and Positive Rights2. Positive Rights as a Practical ConceptEpilogueIndex