1 Democracy, radical politics and a differential human rights 1
2 Challenging human rights histories 9
Three strategies of pacification 11
Slavery, the Haitian Revolution and abolition 15
3 The withdrawal of the radical in human rights 27
The withdrawal of the radical 28 Statist and individualist metaphysics 34
4 The authority of change: Sieyes and Kant 45
Sieyes and the realization of the nation 46 Kant and the abyssal heart of the constituent 53
5 An open constituent power: Sorel, Benjamin and Bataille 60
Reflections on violence 60
Critique of violence 63
The dark night of revolution-without-end 70
6 Differing the people: Derrida and Ranciere 77
A substantive or elided people? 78
Derrida and Ranciere's deconstruction of the people 86
7 On being-together:beyond the subject of human rights 97
Heidegger's Volk 98
The people, the political and community 108
8 On world: biopolitics, singularity and'global'human rights 117
Human rights, biopower and singularity 118 World, globe and capital 127
9 On right-ing: constituent power and human rights 133
Two radical notions of rights 134
Right-ing and the sovereignty of human rights? 141
Notes 147
Bibliography 181
Index 196