The Stateless Person, the Citizen and Human Rights: A Revised Neo-Hobbesian Theory of Human Rights for Sociology

Abstract

Given the world is witness to over 80 million forcibly displaced persons, Turner’s neo-Hobbesian theory of human rights, first proposed in this journal decades ago, warrants revisiting. Turner highlights parallels between his foundationalist approach to human rights and Hobbes’ theory of the state. Both thinkers conceive of a vulnerable human in need of a protective canopy. However, Turner neglects Hobbes’ account of rights, and with it the key social dimensions of Hobbes’ theory. Hobbes places great importance on the social conditions of the rights-bearing person. He contrasts two distinct social spaces inhabited by the stateless person and the citizen respectively, and the kinds of rights they hold. For Hobbes, rights are protected only in society, an ideal-typical social space secured by the state. This article proposes a revised neo-Hobbesian theory of human rights that incorporates Hobbes’ treatment of rights as a social concept.