[governance] Rights in IG research

[Jeffrey A. Williams]

Tapani and all,

  Interesting concept that we should concentrate on negitive
rights.  To a degree, I agree.

Tapani Tarvainen wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 18, 2008 at 06:10:05PM -0400, Milton L Mueller (mueller at syr.edu) wrote:
>
> > * One could meaningfully assert a negative right, a right not to have
> > other companies, individuals or nations interfere with their economic
> > activity in ways that violate or impair their development. But this is
> > an extension of other basic rights, such as property rights (i.e., theft
> > of resources) or rights to be free from violence (i.e, invasion, coups
> > d'etat, etc.).
>
> Yes.
>
> Note that "classic" Human Rights are all exactly such negative rights.
> Freedom of speech does not mean someone is obligated to provide
> you with free TV time, but that you can express your ideas with
> whatever means you have and nobody may stop you.
> Right to life only means nobody may kill you, not that everybody
> must do everything they can to keep you alive.
>
> That is no accident.
>
> As you observe, positive rights really makes sense only with an
> explicitly specified other party. They cannot meaningfully be
> asserted against "everybody". In a national context, state is
> often implied as the provider of such rights, but internationally
> that doesn't work.
>
> Any Bill of Rights should stick to negative rights, negative though
> that term sounds, lest it become meaningless, impossible to implement
> and eventually ignored.
>
> --
> Tapani Tarvainen
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