Part I

1. On the Fundamental Principles of Human Rights

2. Human Rights Now and in the Future

3. The Age of Rights

4. Human Rights and Society

5. Human Rights Today

Part II

6. The French Revolution and Human Rights

7. The Legacy of the Great Revolution

8. Kant and the French Revolution

Part III

9. Against the Death Penalty

10. The Current Debate on the Death Penalty

Index

Drawing widely on the work of Kant, Locke, Beccaria, and Paine, Bobbio argues that the French Revolution is a crucial event in moulding our ideas and attitudes today. He suggests that the proclamation of rights does not necessarily mean that those rights are actually enforced.

He carefully traces the development of human rights through various 'generations' - libertarian, social, ecological - and argues that the recognition and effective protection of human rights are the foundations of modern democratic institutions. Human rights, democracy and peace are the three essential components of the same historical movement.