Abstract

It may seem obvious that recognizing people’s human rights involves freeing them from poverty and thereby allowing them to exercise their agency. On closer inspection, however, it is not at all clear what recognizing people’s human rights, freeing them from poverty, and respecting their agency requires. Diana Meyers’s nice collection of essays carefully examines the meanings and practical normative implications of poverty, agency, and human rights in a way that points out various conceptual connections and potential practical dilemmas. The authors consider, for instance, ways in which fighting poverty can compromise, as well as promote, aspects of women’s agency. They also consider how we can respect migrants’ human rights to take up decent jobs abroad without worsening their children’s experience of poverty back home. One general strand of argument running through the papers is that the narrow focus on individual agency and responsibility for harms is misplaced in our globalizing world. Recognizing this fact may better help us achieve global justice.