The concept of human rights emerged out of the Western legal tradition and claims to be of universal application. However, the historical and cultural Western imprint on the idea of human rights leads to difficulties, theoretical and political. Galtung assesses these problems and focuses, in particular, on the failure of the legal tradition to take account of problems that are located in the economic and political structures of society and in cultural life more generally. He proposes to remedy these deficiencies by developing an accounting approach to human rights based on human needs, a structural analysis, and a clear examination of diverse social and cultural processes.

The result is a highly original account of human rights and a new approach to this important subject matter. Human Rights in Another Key will become a major reference point in all future discussions about human rights.