Should universal human rights be considered a global norm? Or should concerns of national sovereignty and cultural pluralism take precedence? Discourses of human rights are powerful and ubiquitous and are used in many varied and complex ways in the contemporary world. This course will examine the historical emergence of human rights discourses in the West, their institutionalization, and their deployment in the contexts of the Cold War and the war on terror. A range of theories, critiques, and contemporary debates about human rights will be explored. (Global)