After Evil: A Politics of Human Rights (Columbia Studies in Political Thought/ Political History)

Mainstream human rights discourse speaks of such evils as the Holocaust, slavery, or apartheid in ways that put them solidly in the past. Its elaborate techniques of ""transitional"" justice encourage future generations to move forward, but the false assumption of closure enables those who are guilty to elude responsibility. This approach to history, common to late-twentieth-century humanitarianism, doesn't presuppose that evil ends only when justice begins. Rather, it assumes that a time before justice is the moment to put evil in the past. Merging examples from literatu. Read more... Abstract: Mainstream human rights discourse speaks of such evils as the Holocaust, slavery, or apartheid in ways that put them solidly in the past. Its elaborate techniques of ""transitional"" justice encourage future generations to move forward, but the false assumption of closure enables those who are guilty to elude responsibility. This approach to history, common to late-twentieth-century humanitarianism, doesn't presuppose that evil ends only when justice begins. Rather, it assumes that a time before justice is the moment to put evil in the past. Merging examples from literatu The way in which mainstream human rights discourse speaks of such evils as the Holocaust, slavery, or apartheid puts them solidly in the past. Its elaborate techniques of "transitional" justice encourage future generations to move forward by creating a false assumption of closure, enabling those who are guilty to elude responsibility. This approach to history, common to late-twentieth-century humanitarianism, doesn't presuppose that evil ends when justice begins. Rather, it assumes that a time before justice is the moment to put evil in the past. Merging examples from literature and history, Robert Meister confronts the problem of closure and the resolution of historical injustice. He boldly challenges the empty moral logic of "never again" or the theoretical reduction of evil to a cycle of violence and counterviolence, broken only once evil is remembered for what it was . Meister criticizes such methods for their deferral of justice and susceptibility to exploitation and elaborates the flawed moral logic of "never again" in relation to Auschwitz and its evolution into a twenty-first-century doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect. Mainstream human rights discourse speaks of such evils as the Holocaust, slavery, or apartheid in ways that put them solidly in the past. Its elaborate techniques of'transitional'justice encourage future generations to move forward, but the false assumption of closure enables those who are guilty to elude responsibility. This approach to history, common to late-twentieth-century humanitarianism, doesn't presuppose that evil ends only when justice begins. Rather, it assumes that a time before justice is the moment to put evil in the past. Merging examples from literature and history, Robert Meister confronts the problem of closure and the resolution of historical injustice. He boldly challenges the empty moral logic of'never again'or the theoretical reduction of evil to a cycle of violence and counterviolence that is broken once evil is remembered for what it was. Meister calls out such methods for their deferral of justice and susceptibility to exploitation. Specifically, he spells out the moral logic'never again'in relation to Auschwitz and its evolution into a twenty-first-century doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect The Way in which mainstream human rights discourse speaks of such evils as the Holocaust, slavery, or apartheid puts them solidly in the past. Its elaborate techniques of "transitional" justice encourage future generations to move forward by creating a false assumption of closure, enabling those Who are guilty to elude responsibility. This approach to history, common to late-twentieth-century humanitarianism, doesn't presuppose that evial ends when justice begins. Rather, it assumes that a time before justice is the moment of put evil in the past Contents 6 Preface: My Task 8 Introduction: Disavowing Evil 14 1. The Ideology and Ethics of Human Rights 33 2. Ways of Winning 63 3. Living On 96 4. The Dialectic of Race and Place 126 5. “Never Again” 157 6. Still the Jewish Question? 188 7. Bystanders and Victims 225 8. Adverse Possession 245 9. States of “Emergency” 273 10. Surviving Catastrophe 299 Conclusion: Justice in Time 317 Acknowledgments 330 Notes 332 References 468 Index 516 Merging examples from literature and history, Robert Meister confronts the problem of closure and the resolution of historical injustice. He boldly challenges the empty moral logic of "never again" or the theoretical reduction of evil to a cycel of violence and counterviolence, borken only once evil is remembered for what is was Meister criticizes such methods for their deferral of justice and susceptibility to exploitation and elaborated the flawed moral logic of "never again" in relation to Auschwitz and its evolution into a twenty-first-century doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect. --Book Jacket