Globalization and universal notion of human rights

This paper attempts to study the idea of a universal notion of human rights, such as that outlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) in the light of the globalization debate. I will attempt to understand the processes of globalization as they play out in the arena of the human rights debate. Like Arjun Appadurai said, “The central problem of today's global interactions is the tension between cultural homogenization and cultural heterogenization.” (Appadurai, 2009) The focus of this paper will be the homogenization- heterogenization, universal-particular, essentialist-relativist debates that are central to the study of both globalization and the human rights discourse.