Human Rights in the Age of Globalisation: Challenges and Opportunities
A special issue of Laws (ISSN 2075-471X). This special issue belongs to the section "Human Rights Issues".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 26 February 2026 | Viewed by 335
Special Issue Editor
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
This Special Issue aims to explore the complex and multifaceted relationship between globalisation and human rights, incorporating diverse theoretical, empirical, and socio-legal perspectives. The focus will include, but is not limited to, key issues such as intersectional discrimination, gender-based violence, militarisation, migration, and socio-legal inequalities. It welcomes contributions that critically assess how global economic, political, and legal structures influence human rights enforcement. It will also investigate the role of international institutions, state policies, and legal frameworks in either reinforcing or challenging systemic inequalities.
This Special Issue also explores how localised legal and social movements influence international human rights discourses and vice versa. It encourages research that examines how grassroots movements, feminist legal activism, and transnational advocacy contribute to shaping the evolving human rights discourse, highlighting the dynamic interplay between local activism and global human rights frameworks. By exploring these approaches, we aim to underscore the ways in which local actors actively shape and contest global legal and policy frameworks.
Furthermore, this Special Issue invites critical engagement with decolonial perspectives on human rights. It seeks to interrogate how colonial legacies continue to shape global human rights and how decolonial approaches challenge Eurocentric legal and political structures. Contributions that explore resistance, alternative epistemologies, and postcolonial critiques of international human rights mechanisms are particularly encouraged.
The Special Issue invites research that examines these dynamics through various methodological lenses, from legal analysis to ethnographic fieldwork. While contributions from all approaches are welcome, special attention will be given to feminist, critical, and empirical perspectives that emphasise the lived experiences of marginalised communities.
By bringing together diverse contributions from scholars, activists, and legal practitioners, this Special Issue aims to deepen our understanding of the interplay between law, power, and human rights in a globalised world. It invites research that critically engages with globalisation’s paradoxical impact on human rights, offering both theoretical insights and empirical case studies.
Dr. Demet Asli Caltekin
Guest Editor
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Laws is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- globalisation and human rights
- intersectional discrimination
- gender-based violence
- militarisation and law
- socio-legal inequalities
- feminist legal activism
- transnational human rights movements
- state and institutional accountability
- resistance and legal activism
- sexualities and gender
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
- Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
- Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
- Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
- External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
- Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.
Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.
