Did emphasizing human rights prove to be truly an effective principle for fighting repression and violence - or did human rights remain only an unredeemed ideal put to use in the service of purely political interests? In the course of the 20th century human rights received international attention and became a hotly contested arena of political conflict. Untold groups and whole countries invoked the cause of helping others in order to protect themselves, their interests and their political goals. That caused this approach to become one of the decisive venues of international politics. This volume addresses for the first time the development of the international politics of human rights since the 1940s. It examines the many projects that were undertaken in the name of human rights, the dramatic controversies that ensued, and the ambivalent consequences that this path had for the remainder of the 20th century. This is an important and indispensable book for our understanding of the history of the past century and for developing a competent political discussion in the future.