Human Rights and Democracy (WG Human Rights and WG Law and Politics)

We are living through a period marked by the intensification of political, economic, environmental, and technological crises that challenge the foundations of democratic coexistence and the protection of human dignity. In a context shaped by armed conflicts, forced displacement, persistent inequalities, the expansion of digital surveillance, climate change, and the growing influence of authoritarian discourses, human rights have become a privileged field for the sociological analysis of contemporary transformations. This Working Group provides a forum for critical dialogue on the meanings, limits, and potentialities of human rights in times of global turbulence. Grounded in the understanding that human rights constitute both a normative project and an object of political, cultural, and social contestation, we seek to bring together research examining the processes through which human rights are institutionalized, challenged, appropriated, and reimagined across diverse contexts. We welcome contributions addressing topics including democracy and authoritarianism, violence and public security, migration, justice systems, prisons and incarceration, gender, race, coloniality, Indigenous peoples, social inequalities, socio-environmental rights, artificial intelligence, digital rights, social movements, and global governance. Comparative perspectives and innovative theoretical and methodological approaches that deepen our understanding of contemporary challenges are particularly encouraged.