The Relationship between the Globalization of Human Rights and the Territorial Protection of Civil Rights
The Relationship between the Globalization of Human Rights and the Territorial Protection of Civil Rights

Summary/Abstract: The main aim of the article is to show that in the globalized world, the axiological and anthropological dimensions of human rights do not fit together. Such tension – between universally understood human rights and territorially perceived citizens’ rights – is unavoidable. By making the term “human” strictly biological, people are not perceived as members of a particular community but as members of the human species. In the political paradigm, these collectivities are distinguished by political rules; in the biological paradigm, they are perceived as natural. In this situation, from a biopolitical perspective, the life of others (non-citizens) in effect ceases to be treated as a human life or as a life associated with any ethical requirements, because the normative dimension that metaphysics, religion or politics give to the notion of being human has been excluded. Hence, from the biopolitical viewpoint, human rights cannot be enforced with the same effectiveness as laws enforced under state jurisdiction. They constitute an ethical norm by which the international community judges a given procedure, rather than an enforceable legal norm. In order to justify my reasoning, I will refer to the two philosophically important categories – space and borders – that play a vital role in understanding the processes of globalization that affect the legitimation and enforcement of human rights.

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