Abstract
Put bluntly, my argument is as follows. An unstated and uncritical assumption that improved/more democratic systems will help immigrants to obtain their human rights more quickly, should be approached warily. (The bulk of the papers at the recent international conference “Migration and Democracy” held in Dudelange, Luxemburg, 14–16 June 2012, made that assumption, too uncritically). No “actually-existing” democracy, which, except in a tiny number of cases, has meant liberal representative democracy for over 200 years, has neither provided rights for all nor can do so.
This paper draws some conclusions about democracy and human rights from my recent book on universal human rights (Davidson 2012). I am obliged to paint a broad canvas that necessarily raises many questions. The research for my history of universal human rights from the point of view of victims of rights abuse led me to concur with the conclusion of Samuel Moyn (2010) that only when it became clear that the democratic project had not protected people did universal human rights win mass support. While he dates this turning point to 1977, I join his predecessor, Hannah Arendt (1946, 1951), in dating the failure from about 1945. Moyn does not acknowledge sufficiently Arendt’s contribution to the debate. Her argument is discussed below.
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Notes
- 1.
It is notable that late in life Bobbio himself gave up his belief in a democracy that could do everything and became a supporter of universal human rights against democracy. In this sense, he belongs with Moyn (2010) and Davidson (2012), but as the leading theorist of democracy, his change of heart carries much more weight (for my full assessment of Bobbio’s views and itinerary see Davidson (2011), “Norberto Bobbio: Populismo, Democracia y Derechos Humanas”).
- 2.
Certainly, the attitude of écrasez l’infame starts with strong scientific thinking like that of Bayle and Descartes as much as in any religious text. Montesquieu in fact pioneered “weak thinking” in social and political matters through his comparative method. He is thus the father of multiculturalism.
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Davidson, A. (2016). Democracy, Human Rights and Migration. In: Eigenmann, P., Geisen, T., Studer, T. (eds) Migration und Minderheiten in der Demokratie. Springer VS, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-04031-4_2
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