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September 10, 2025Open Access

Editorial Human Rights in an Age of Populist Authoritarianism

Key Points

The global consensus on human rights has weakened in the face of rising populism and authoritarianism.
Decolonization movements have reshaped the understanding of human rights, emphasizing diversity beyond Eurocentrism.
The establishment of the UN and the UDHR initially advanced liberal human rights, but current trends threaten these gains.
Shifts in political landscapes reflect challenges to universal human rights frameworks established post-World War II.

Abstract

With the founding of the United Nations (UN) in 1945 and the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) by the UN in 1948, it appeared that liberal conceptions of human rights were fundamentally embedded in mainstream politics at a global level. This of course had come on the heels of the devastation of two World Wars that had torn to shreds any notion of civilisational superiority of the West. At the same time, decolonization movements across Africa and Asia were challenging Eurocentric notions of ‘the human’ and ‘rights’, and fought for and won a more universal concept of human rights (Sahgal, 2012; also see Sahgal in this issue). Today, however, the consensus has frayed.

Editorial Human Rights in an Age of Populist Authoritarianism

Key Points

Abstract

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