Theories of Human Rights: Institutional or Orthodox - Why it Matters

The aim of this article is primarily to alleviate some of the alleged conflicts between 'Orthodox' and 'Political' theories of human rights, in particular to defend at least one Political theory against charges that it is unduly constrained to actual consensus on premises in defense of International Legal Human Rights (ILHR), that it is too closely linked to the current state system to match the universal ambitions of human rights, and that it seeks to avoid normative premises. The last section question the alleged value added of Orthodox theories' "intermediate moral principles" of moral human rights for Political theories of ILHR.