In this article, I examine Costas Douzinas’s philosophy of rights and his critical legal theories. He puts forward an axiom and six theses on Human Rights in order to criticize the relationship between the government of neo-liberalism and the liberal theories of Human Rights. I elucidate his criticism against liberalism, and demonstrate the impossibility of the liberal right to resistance in the era of neoliberal capitalism. Douzinas argues, on the other hand, his new concept of the right to resistance from the postmodern point of view. I clarify that his concept of resistance is derived from the singular struggles by the oppressed, and can be justified by “the agonistic and situated universality”. I conclude, then, his theory of rights is strategically so effective that it can activate the resistance against the government of neo-liberalism, and encourage the solidarity among the militant subjects.
一橋法学 19 (1), 63-81, 2020-03-10
一橋大学大学院法学研究科