Who Decides What Human Rights Are?

Syrian men react during a reported air strike by government forces in Aleppo on July 15, 2014. More than 170,000 people have been killed in the three-year Syrian war, one third of them civilians.

What are the origins of human rights? In recent years, this question has become a major focus of historical and ideological debate. Law professor Samuel Moyn explores the past, present, and future of the politics of human rights and talks about when humanitarian intervention is justified. He’s the author of the book  Human Rights and the Uses of History.