[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-detail-40235-en":3,"doc-seo-40235-105":30,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":92},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",{"doc_id":7,"user_id":8,"nickname":9,"user_avatar":10,"doc_module":4,"category_id":11,"category_name":12,"doc_title":13,"doc_description":14,"doc_content":15,"file_id":16,"file_url":17,"file_type":18,"file_size":19,"view_count":20,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":21,"is_downloadable":21,"audit_status":21,"page_count":22,"language":23,"language_code":24,"site_id":25,"html_lang":24,"table_of_contents":26,"faqs":27,"seo_title":13,"seo_description":14,"update_tm":28,"read_time":29},40235,1649267921044,"Ava Thompson","https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/1800007509477c92dfb?_k=1782875107921204101",8,"Research & Report","After Evil: A Politics of Human Rights","After Evil: A Politics of Human Rights examines human rights through an explicitly political and historical lens, probing the ethical and ideological foundations that shape how rights claims function in practice. It traces arguments about how rights are won, how they are lived with over time, and how race and place structure political realities. The book addresses recurring dilemmas, including “Never Again,” bystanders and victims, emergencies, catastrophe, and ends with justice in time.","after  \nA politics of humAn rights  \nrobert meister  \nAfter evil  \nColumbia Studies in Political Thought/Political History  \nColumbia Studies in Political Thought/Political History  \nDick Howard, General Editor  \nColumbia Studies in Political Thought/Political History is a series dedicated to exploring the possibilities for democratic initiative and the revitalization of politics in the wake of the exhaustion of twentieth-century ideological “isms.” By taking a historical approach to the politics of ideas about power, governance, and the just society, this series seeks to foster and illuminate new political spaces for human action and choice.  \nPierre Rosanvallon, Democracy Past and Future, edited by Samuel Moyn (2006)  \nClaude Lefort, Complications: Communism and the Dilemmas of Democracy, translated by Julian Bourg (2007)  \nBenjamin R. Barber, The Truth of Power: Intellectual Affairs in the Clinton White House (2008)  \nAndrew Arato, Constitution Making Under Occupation: The Politics of Imposed Revolution in Iraq (2009)  \nHoward Dick, The Primacy of the Political: A History of Political Thought from the Greeks to the French and American Revolution  \nrobert Meister  \nAfter evil  \nA PoliTiCS of HumAn RigHTS  \nColumbia  \nUniversity  \nPress  \nNew York  \nColumbia University Press Publishers Since 1893  \nNew York Chichester, West Sussex Copyright © 2011 Robert Meister All rights reserved  \nLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Meister, Robert, 1947–  \nAfter evil: a politics of human rights / Robert Meister.  \n[p. cm](p. cm).—(Columbia studies in political thought/political history)  \nIncludes bibliographical references and index.  \nISBN 978-0-231-15036-1 (cloth: alk. paper)  \n1. Human rights. I. Title. II. Series.  \nJC571 .M385 2010  \n323.012—dc22  \n2010017186  \nColumbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper. This book is printed on paper with recycled content.  \nPrinted in the United States of America c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1  \nReferences to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.  \nContents  \nPreface: My Task | vii  \nIntroduction: Disavowing Evil | 1  \n1. The Ideology and Ethics of Human Rights | 20  \n2. Ways of Winning | 50  \n3. Living On | 83  \n4. The Dialectic of Race and Place | 113  \n5. “Never Again” | 144  \n6. Still the Jewish Question? | 175  \n7. Bystanders and Victims | 212  \n8. Adverse Possession | 232  \n9. States of “Emergency” | 260  \n10. Surviving Catastrophe | 286 Conclusion: Justice in Time | 304  \nAcknowledgments | 317  \nNotes | 319  \nReferences | 455  \nIndex | 503  \nPrefACe | my TASk  \nMost long books are revised to create the illusion that they could have been conceived all at once. I want you, my reader, to be under no such illusion. In a broad sense, this book is the reflection of an entire lifetime—what I now think about what I have thought since the mid-twentieth century. It reflects, more narrowly, a series of realizations I had between 1989 and 2009—the interval between the fall of communism and the collapse of global capitalism, when a discourse of sentimental humanitarianism promised to supplant that of hard-edged political struggle. For me, these were also the years following the completion of my book on Karl Marx, whose work originated in doubts about an earlier postrevolutionary appropriation of human rights by states claiming global hegemony. I had planned my next book on the relevance of U.S. constitutional thought, especially on questions of civil war and reconstruction, to political transformations then occurring throughout the world. This book, a critique of the dark side of the particular version of human rights that followed from U.S. global dominance, has overtaken the earlier project.  \nMy successive realizations about what has been at stake in the changes of the past twenty years ar","cbCaindIzQO5ACdp","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaindIzQO5ACdp","pdf",4728369,5,1,539,"English","en",105,"# Preface: My Task\n# Introduction: Disavowing Evil\n# The Ideology and Ethics of Human Rights\n# Ways of Winning\n# Living On\n# The Dialectic of Race and Place\n# “Never Again”\n# Still the Jewish Question?\n# Bystanders and Victims\n# Adverse Possession\n# States of “Emergency”\n# Surviving Catastrophe\n# Conclusion: Justice in Time\n# Acknowledgments\n# Notes\n# References\n# Index","[{\"question\":\"What is the central focus of After Evil: A Politics of Human Rights?\",\"answer\":\"It investigates human rights as a matter of politics and history, emphasizing the ethical and ideological stakes behind rights discourse and its real-world consequences.\"},{\"question\":\"How does the book frame political transitions and their meaning?\",\"answer\":\"Political transitions are treated not only as new beginnings but as “survivor stories” carrying a non-neutral judgment about what came before.\"},{\"question\":\"Which major themes does the book cover across its chapters?\",\"answer\":\"It covers winning rights, living on, the link between race and place, “Never Again,” the roles of bystanders and victims, adverse possession, states of emergency, and surviving catastrophe, culminating in justice in time.\"}]",1783307052,1358,{"code":4,"msg":31,"data":32},"ok",{"site_id":25,"language":24,"slug":33,"title":13,"keywords":34,"description":14,"schema_data":35,"social_meta":87,"head_meta":89,"extra_data":91,"updated_unix":28},"after-evil-a-politics-of-human-rights","",{"@graph":36,"@context":86},[37,54,69],{"@type":38,"itemListElement":39},"BreadcrumbList",[40,44,48,51],{"item":41,"name":42,"@type":43,"position":21},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":45,"name":46,"@type":43,"position":47},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":49,"name":12,"@type":43,"position":50},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":52,"name":13,"@type":43,"position":53},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/after-evil-a-politics-of-human-rights/40235/",4,{"url":52,"name":13,"@type":55,"author":56,"headline":13,"publisher":58,"fileFormat":61,"inLanguage":24,"description":14,"dateModified":62,"datePublished":63,"encodingFormat":61,"isAccessibleForFree":64,"interactionStatistic":65},"DigitalDocument",{"name":9,"@type":57},"Person",{"url":41,"name":59,"@type":60},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-07-15","2026-07-06",true,{"@type":66,"interactionType":67,"userInteractionCount":20},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":68},"ViewAction",{"@type":70,"mainEntity":71},"FAQPage",[72,78,82],{"name":73,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":75},"What is the central focus of After Evil: A Politics of Human Rights?","Question",{"text":76,"@type":77},"It investigates human rights as a matter of politics and history, emphasizing the ethical and ideological stakes behind rights discourse and its real-world consequences.","Answer",{"name":79,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":80},"How does the book frame political transitions and their meaning?",{"text":81,"@type":77},"Political transitions are treated not only as new beginnings but as “survivor stories” carrying a non-neutral judgment about what came before.",{"name":83,"@type":74,"acceptedAnswer":84},"Which major themes does the book cover across its chapters?",{"text":85,"@type":77},"It covers winning rights, living on, the link between race and place, “Never Again,” the roles of bystanders and victims, adverse possession, states of emergency, and surviving catastrophe, culminating in justice in time.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":52,"og:type":88,"og:title":13,"og:site_name":59,"og:description":14},"article",{"robots":90,"canonical":52},"index,follow",{"doc_id":7,"site_id":25},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":93},[94,98,102,106,110,115,120,123,128,131,135],{"id":21,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":95,"show_sort_weight":96,"slug":97},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":47,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":99,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":101},"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":53,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":103,"show_sort_weight":104,"slug":105},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":20,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":107,"show_sort_weight":108,"slug":109},"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":111,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":112,"show_sort_weight":113,"slug":114},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":116,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":117,"show_sort_weight":118,"slug":119},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":11,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":12,"show_sort_weight":121,"slug":122},30,"research-report",{"id":124,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":127},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":126,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":126,"slug":130},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":132,"slug":134},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":136,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":46,"category_name":137,"show_sort_weight":20,"slug":138},19,"General","general"]