The best of all possible worlds for human rights advocacy is presumably a single global movement, with common goals. This ideal movement would have a shared internal economy where need—not fundraising or donor inclinations—sets priorities and directs the flow of money. The movement’s direction of travel would be the result of democratic deliberation. We might argue that the reality, or possibility, of a singular global human rights movement is a core belief for many prominent human rights advocates—that everyone in “human rights” is in it together, on the same team and united by “the values and cause that we serve in common.”
Global social media and mobile technology appear to give transnational activists the tools for this job, promising increasingly effective communication and action that dispenses with national borders. Now we get multiple boomerangs and virtual networks where information is widely shared and campaigning pressure comes from sources inside and outside the state. This kind of lasso effect tightens the noose around reluctant governments from all sides—a welcome step forward in improving human rights outcomes.
Such a “convergence towards the global middle” offers many possibilities, as others in this debate have recognized, but it also presents clear problems. Some come from within the global human rights movement, especially over funding and priority setting. Yet these accounts still assume that the border itself, the distinction between inside and outside the state, can be overcome, and the state tamed. Human rights are, after all, about the moral irrelevance of that border when it comes to a person’s fundamental entitlements.
