Liberty and Security (Polity, 2013)
All aspire to liberty and security in their lives but few people truly enjoy them. This book explains why this is so. In what Conor Gearty calls our 'neo-democratic' world, the proclamation of universal liberty and security is mocked by facts on the ground: the vast inequalities in supposedly free societies, the authoritarian regimes with regular elections, and the terrible socio-economic deprivation camouflaged by cynically proclaimed commitments to human rights.
Gearty's book offers an explanation of how this has come about, providing also a criticism of the present age which tolerates it. He then goes on to set out a manifesto for a better future, a place where liberty and security can be rich platforms for everyone's life.
The book identifies neo-democracies as those places which play at democracy so as to disguise the injustice at their core. But it is not just the new 'democracies' that have turned 'neo', the so-called established democracies are also hurtling in the same direction, as is the United Nations.
A new vision of universal freedom is urgently required. Drawing on scholarship in law, human rights and political science this book argues for just such a vision, one in which the great achievements of our democratic past are not jettisoned as easily as were the socialist ideals of the original democracy-makers.
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The Cambridge Companion to Human Rights Law, eds. Conor
Gearty, Costas Douzinas (Cambridge University Press, 2012)
Human rights are considered one of the big ideas of the early twenty-first century. This book presents in an authoritative and readable form the variety of platforms on which human rights law is practiced today, reflecting also on the dynamic inter-relationships that exist between these various levels. The collection has a critical edge. The chapters engage with how human rights law has developed in its various subfields, what (if anything) has been achieved and at what cost, in terms of expected or produced unexpected side-effects. The authors pass judgment about the consistency, efficacy and success of human rights law (set against the standards of the field itself or other external goals). Written by world-class academics, this Companion will be essential reading for students and scholars of human rights law.
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C A Gearty and V Mantouvalou, Debating Social Rights
(Hart Publishing, November 2010)
Debating Law is a new series that gives scholarly experts the
opportunity to offer contrasting perspectives on significant topics of
contemporary, general interest. In this second volume of the series, Conor
Gearty argues that for rights to work effectively in the wider promotion of
social justice, they need to be kept as far away as possible from the courts. He
acknowledges the value of rights language in legal and political debate and
accepts that human rights are not solely civil and political, with social rights
language clearly having a progressive, emancipatory dimension. However he says
that lawyers — even well-intentioned lawyers — damage the achievability of the
kind of radical transformation in the priorities of states that a genuine
commitment to social rights surely necessitates. Virginia Mantouvalou argues
that social rights, defined as entitlements to the satisfaction of basic needs,
are as essential for the well-being of the individual and the community as
long-established civil and political rights. The real challenge, she suggests,
is how best to give effect to social rights. Drawing on examples from around the
world, she argues for their 'legalisation', and examines the role of courts and
the role of legislatures in this process, both at a national and a supranational
level.
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Essays on Human Rights and Terrorism (Cameron
May, 2008)
Conor Gearty has been writing on human rights, civil liberties
and terrorism for over twenty-five years. In this book, his writings on the
global, regional and comparative dimensions to his subject are brought together
for the first time. The book contains articles from law journals and literary
periodicals as well as written versions of a number of distinguished lectures on
these topics that have been given by the author. There are also three especially
commissioned pieces on the particular application of human rights law and
practice in Asia, dealing with the universality of human rights, the impact of
'Asian values' on human rights, and the challenge posed by China for
contemporary human rights thinking. With chapters on the United States and the
European region, and also on such terrorism/human rights related problems as
Northern Ireland, the book offers a broad overview of a series of legal issues
pressing in on the world today.
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Civil Liberties (Oxford University
Press, 2007)
This
book traces the origins of the term civil liberties,
unpicking its various layers of meaning and explaining what
it has come to mean today. Gearty argues that the protection
of civil liberties is a vital front in the struggle to
preserve political freedom and that a proper understanding
of and commitment to civil liberties has never been more
important. Civil Liberties provides a fresh, clear, and
stimulating approach to civil liberties by tying the law and
practice of the subject firmly to democratic and political
rights. The author examines the key civil liberties of our
democratic age: the right to vote; the rights to life,
liberty and security of the person; the freedoms of thought,
conscience, expression, association and assembly; and
discusses the contemporary challenges that civil liberties
face, including globalisation and the war on terror
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Downes, David and Rock, Paul and Chinkin, Christine and Gearty,
Conor, eds. Crime, social control and human rights: from
moral panics to states of denial. (Willan Publishing :
2007)
The work of Stanley Cohen over four decades has
come to acquire a classical status in the fields of criminology,
sociology and human rights. His writing, research, teaching and
practical engagement in these fields have been at once rigorously
analytical and intellectually inspiring. It amounts to a unique
contribution, immensely varied yet with several unifying themes, and
it has made, and continues to make, a lasting impact around the
world. His work thus has a protean character and scope which
transcend time and place. This book of essays in Stanley Cohen’s
honour aims to build on and reflect some of his many-sided
contributions. It contains chapters by some of the world’s leading
thinkers as well as the rising generation of scholars and
practitioners whose approach has been shaped in significant respects
by his own.
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Can Human Rights Survive? (Cambridge University
Press, 2006)
The
Hamlyn lectures 2005 reworked and greatly expanded for
publication: For years the subject of human rights was on
the margin of legal and political debate, supported with
zeal by the few and ignored by the many. Then, with the end
of the Cold War came recognition, prestige and immense
influence. Vast numbers of new believers were recruited from
the lost ideologies of past eras. The excesses of the global
market drove even capitalists into its embrace. Democracy
everywhere redefined itself to make human rights an
essential part of its make-up rather than the subversion of
true majority rule that it had long been believed to be. By
the start of the new millennium, the idea of human rights
was well-entrenched as the key ethic of its age, the moral
music that was to accompany ‘the end of history’. But
various challenges now threaten the power of the idea. This
book assesses three in particular: the challenge of
authority; the challenge of legalism and the challenge of
national security. It then analyses what the subject needs
to do to ensure its survival and what the new challenges are
that lie ahead for it.
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Principles of Human Rights Adjudication (OUP, 2004, 230pp
ISBN 0 19 9270686)
This
book analyses the impact of the Human Rights Act on UK law,
setting out the three principles which the courts deploy in
interpreting the Act and the three aspirations that judges
ought to have in mind when approaching interpetation of the
Act.
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Conor Gearty and John Phillips, 'The Human Rights Act and
business: friend or foe?' (2012) L.M.C.L.Q. 487
'Is attacking multiculturalism a way of tackling racism -
or feeding it? Reflections on the Government's Prevent Strategy.' E.H.R.L.R.
2012, 2, 121-129.
Responds to the Prime Minister's criticisms of certain aspects of multiculturalism as potential threats to Western democratic values. Reflects on the views expressed in the policy statement on counter-terrorism entitled "CONTEST: The United Kingdom's Strategy for Countering Terrorism" and in the Government's June 2011 Prevent Review and Strategy, and argues that they are partisan and complacent readings of British values which may feed racist attitudes, especially towards Muslim groups. Questions the strategy's analysis of issues including the links between terrorism and extremism.
'Once upon a Country : A Palestinian life' Denning Law
Journal, 2011, 239-241
'Short Cuts' London Review of Books, 33 (17)
2011p.20
'The Human Rights Act - an academic sceptic changes his
mind but not his heart' European Human Rights Law Review (2010) 6
pp.582-588
Explains why the author has changed the negative position
on the Human Rights Act 1998 he held during the 1990s and is now opposed to
its repeal. Outlines the reasons why he has changed his opinion to favour
the Act. Considers the practical application of the Act, focusing on the use
of declarations of incompatibility. Examines the positive role of the
judiciary in respect of the Act, noting that numerous challenges were made
under the Act in terrorism-related cases. Comments on areas in which the Act
has not fared as well.
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'Do human rights help or hinder environmental
protection?' (2010) 1 Journal of Human Rights and the Environment
7-22
'Terms of Art' (Review) (2010) 32
London Review of Books part 5 27-29 (11 March 2010)
'Response to
Charles Townshend' (2009) Critical
studies on terrorism 2
(2), p.
319.
'Situating international human rights law in an age of
counter-terrorism' in Barnard, Catherine, (ed.) The Cambridge yearbook of
European legal studies 2007-2008. Cambridge yearbook of European legal
studies (10). Hart Publishing, Oxford, UK, pp. 167-188.(2008)
'The Superpatriotic Fervour of the Moment' (2008) 28 Oxford
Journal of Legal Studies 183-200
'Terrorism and human rights.' Government and Opposition
42 (3). pp. 340-362. (2007)
Since the formal invocation of the Universal Declaration of
Human Rights in 1948, much global discourse has been shaped by those principles,
to the extent that one could without exaggeration describe the period as an 'age
of human rights'. But will and indeed can that survive the perceived danger
arising from violent acts of terrorism? Is this now an 'age of terrorism'- or at
least, an 'age of counter-terrorism'- in which human rights are being accorded a
secondary status? This article considers those contentions and also advocates
particular roles for those who work in the human rights field.
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'Rethinking civil liberties in a counter-terrorism world.' In:
Deane, Seamus and Mac Suibhne, Breandán, (eds.) Field day review. Field
Day Books, Dublin, Eire, pp. 125-136. 2007
'The Blair Report.' Index on censorship 36 (2). pp. 49-55.
(2007)
Johnson, Mark and Gearty, Conor ) 'Civil liberties and the
challenge of terrorism.' In: Park, Alison and Curtice, John and Thomson,
Katarina and Phillips, Miranda and Johnson, Mark, (eds.) British social
attitudes: the 23rd report: perspectives on a changing society. British
social attitudes survey series (23). Sage Publications, London, UK, pp. 143-182.
(2007)
Economides, Kim and Twining, William and Phillipson, Gavin and
Chakrabati, Shami and Gearty, Conor (2007) 'Can human rights survive? A
symposium on the 2005 Hamlyn lectures.' Public law (Summer). pp. 209-232.
(2007)
'Uncommon decency.' New humanist,
121 (1). pp. 24-26. (2006)
‘Human Rights in an Age of
Counter-Terrorism: Injurious, Irrelevant or Indispensable?’ (2005)]
Current Legal Problems 25-46
An essay on the
Belmarsh detention case, decided by the House of Lords
in December 2004. Regards the case in a generally
favourable light. Essay examines how the decision came
about.
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'11 September 2001, Counter-Terrorism
and the Human Rights Act' (2005) 32 Journal of Law and Society
18 - 33
'Keeping it honest: the role of the laity in a clerical
church.' in Filochowski, Julian and Stanford, Peter, (eds.) Opening up:
speaking out in the church. Darton, Longman and Todd, London, UK, pp.
257-266. ISBN 9780232526240
'Short cuts.' London review of books,
27 (6). (2005)
‘The Casement Treason Trial in its
Legal Context’ in Mary Daly (ed) Roger Casement in World History
(Royal Irish Academy, Dublin, 2004) pp 151 - 161.
A critical assessment of
Casement's trial for treason in 1916 with comparison
made with way other dissidents were treated at the same
time. The essay is critical of the assumption that
Casement was the victim of a severe miscarriage of
justice.
‘Human Rights’ in The Social
Science Encyclopedia (3rd edn) Routledge, London, 2004) pp
468-472
'Reflections on Civil Liberties in an
Age of Counter-terrorism' (2003) 41 Osgoode Hall Law Journal
185 - 210
‘Terrorism and Morality’ [2003]
European Human Rights Law Review 377-383
‘Civil Liberties and Human Rights’ in
N Bamforth and P Leyland (eds) Public Law in a Multi-Layered
Constitution (Hart Publishers, Oxford, 2003), ch 14, pp 371-390.
A
theoretical analysis of the distinction between human
rights and cvivil liberties, how the terms differ and
the significance of the difference.
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‘Reconciling Parliamentary Democracy
and Human Rights’ (2002) 118 Law Quarterly Review 248
Conor
Gearty