Globalizing Rights is an edited volume of essays about various aspects of human rights as related to globalization, written by well known and respected scholars and intellectuals in the field. Each essay is followed by a response written by another scholar, sometimes a scholar cited in the work to which they are responding.

Eh, it was all right. I wasn’t terribly satisfied with the responses. Nearly all of the responses dealt with just a small aspect of the article in question; I felt they could have been taken further and that there were still many, many aspects of the essays that merited a response or rebuttal. Most responses were only a few pages, hardly enough to explore in depth the issues raised by the essays. I thought the essay written by Susan George, “Globalizing Rights?”, wasn’t very well written or argued at all. Vandana Shiva’s article “Food Rights, Free Trade, and Fascism” was one of the most depressing things I’ve ever read.

I’ve marked it worth reading, but to really be worth your time, it should be read as a way to start a discussion (or at least start thinking critically) about the issues it raises. The essays all provide lots of opportunities for a critical examination of the issues they raise, discussion, and debate. I don’t think this is a book to be read and accepted at face value without some critical reflection on its contents.