About the lecture

In this lecture, we think about the concept of a right, focusing in particular on: (i) the origin of the word right, rooted in the Greek word for justice, demonstrating that rights have always been about what is fair and what someone deserves; (ii) defining rights as entitlements we have as human beings to have access to, or be safe from, certain resources/events/factors; (iii) some key examples of rights and types of people and animals who have these rights; (iv) differentiating between positive and negative rights; (v) John Locke’s proposed natural rights, which were formulated in the 17th century, as a God-given precursor to human rights; (vi) natural rights including the right to life, liberty and property, as well as the right to choose and look after our own wellbeing/happiness; (vii) John Locke’s proposition, that the purpose of a government is to protect its citizens’ rights, with the other direction of that social contract being our obligation to follow our government’s rules; (viii) the universality of these natural rights, which is reflected in the universality of human rights; (ix) the right of the people to respond to any abuses of those rights by their government, by overthrowing the current power and replacing it with one which respects those rights.

About the lecturer

Dr Lily Hamourtziadou is a lecturer in criminology and security studies in the School of Social Sciences at Birmingham City University. Dr Hamourtziadou’s research interests are in nationalism, security and human rights. Some of Dr Hamourtziadou’s recent publications include ‘The Promised Spring; death and neoliberalism in Iraq’ (2020) and ‘Body Count: the war on terror and civilian deaths in Iraq’ (2020).