So human rights are rarely
conceptualized in terms of a set of corresponding
obligations, and therefore there is
some doubt about whether human rights are
rights at all, as Giorgio Agamben (1998,
1999) suggested. Critics might conclude that
citizenship rights are distinct and justiciable,
but human rights are vague, unenforceable,
quasi-rights. We do not accept this bleak
conclusion and would argue that, for the
foreseeable future, human and social rights
are more likely to be compatible than mutually
exclusive. Where citizenship rights fail
to provide protection of individuals from the
state, the individuals will appeal to international
courts for protection of human
rights. While we anticipate that the enforceable
domain of human rights will increase
with globalization, there are clearly tensions
between national and international courts,
and between citizenship and human rights.