To those who invoke them, rights are powerful instruments for settling arguments in favour of the right-holders. But the nature, provenance and justification of rights are uncertain and disputed and there are doubts about whether rights should play a distinctive and fundamental role in moral and political discourse. More recent disgreements have centred on group rights and on whether rights have a universal application across different cultures and moral traditions. These and other related issues are explored in depth by the essays in this volume, which are mostly drawn from a wide range of journals in philosophy, politics and law.

Contents: Recent work on the concept of rights, Rex Martin and James W. Nickel; In defence of moral rights, Joel Feinberg; On the nature of rights, J. Raz; Are there natural rights?, H.L.A. Hart; Rights, claimants, and beneficiaries, David Lyons; 2 concepts of rights, Philip Montague; A right to do wrong, Jeremy Waldron; Rights in conflict, Jeremy Waldron; Conflicts of rights: typology, Methodology, and nonconsequentialism, F.N. Kamm; Natural rights: Bentham and John Stuart Mill, H.L.A. Hart; Rights, goals, and fairness, T.M. Scanlon; Is there a right to pornography?, Ronald Dworkin; A defense of rights to well-being, Rodney Peffer; Between utility and rights, H.L.A. Hart ; What's so special about rights?, Allen Buchanan; Against rights, Richard J. Arneson; Group rights and group oppression, Peter Jones; The good the bad, and the intolerable, Will Kymlicka; Liberal rights and/or Confucian virtues?, Seung-hwan Lee; 'Asian values' and global human rights, Fred Dallmyr; A world consensus on human rights?, Charles Taylor; Minimalism about human rights: the most we can hope for?, Joshua Cohen; Index.