The central purpose of this edited volume is to draw a meaningful link between the human rights work of intergovernmental organization (IGO) officials and the implementation of human rights on the ground by those working in nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) (pp. 1–2). The authors seek to promote a new generation of human rights scholarship by focusing on the “social practice” of human rights, defined by Joel R. Pruce in the introductory chapter as “the performance of norms in lived experience” that occurs “through the labor of actual people whose energies are directed at improving the lives of others” (p. 4). The text explores the intersection of human rights research and human rights advocacy so that human rights scholarship can have “real world” relevance and human rights practitioners can develop the analytical tools for self-reflection and to improve their advocacy.

Pruce devotes most of the introductory chapter to tracing the different generations of scholarship on human rights advocacy by NGOs in order to highlight the “practice turn” in research that focuses on NGOs as complex actors who shape (and whose activities are shaped by) the social context in which they operate. This review of scholarship is particularly valuable; however, the chapter is not as useful for framing the volume or explaining how the selections tie together to support the central purpose. Pruce also unnecessarily defines practitioners narrowly as “those people in the trenches, on the frontlines, in the field, and on the ground” (p. 5). Inexplicably yet deliberately excluded from being a practitioner are diplomats, public officials, and even lawyers. By setting up this dichotomy, Pruce hopes to tease out the complicated relationship between NGO personnel and these other actors, but he never explains why only NGO personnel can be considered practitioners.

The text is organized around three parts. Part I includes selections that provide a constructive critique of NGO advocacy, presumably to demonstrate the need for further research on the social practice of human rights. Alex de Waal, in “Rethinking Activism,” traces the social and political production of human rights over the last 250 years (rather superficially) to enable the reader to grasp the nature of contemporary transnational advocacy. This sets the stage for his critique of the NGOs that advocate for humanitarian intervention by the United States and others. De Waal argues that NGOs need to challenge the overreach of the United States, as well as their NGO colleagues who wish to use U.S. military power to advance human rights (p. 40). Kyla McEntire, Michele Leiby, and Matthew Krain, in “How to Ask People for Change,” quantitatively test how personal, informational, and motivational messaging frames affect the ability of NGOs to raise funds. Using a well-designed experiment, they find that informational frames focusing on facts and statistics are more effective in prompting individuals to donate, especially to campaigns involving issues or practices (such as sleep deprivation during interrogation) that are not seen widely as abusive or as human rights issues (pp. 54–58). This is the kind of research that can help NGOs improve fund-raising and avoid costly strategies that are not likely to be successful.

Alexandra Cosima Budabin in “Documentarian, Witness, and Organizer” analyzes the roles played by celebrities advocating for human rights. Most useful is her application of a framework that explicates different modes of media advocacy (juridical, revelatory, and activating) and the celebrity’s role in communicating information to stakeholders and the public (p. 70). As an organizational scheme, her framework is illustrative and easy to follow. It also allows her to differentiate between the roles that are more successful at advancing human rights, while at the same time showing how the revelatory/witness role of celebrities can diminish the efficacy of the firsthand experience of victims and aid workers as evidence in official proceedings.

The selections in Part II describe and analyze the practice of human rights at the grass roots. Paul Nelson, in “The Human Right to Water” illustrates how NGOs mobilized around the issue of urban water supply during and after privatization struggles. He details the modes of NGO action (resistance, assistance, and engagement), and through a complicated analysis, shows that some modes are more likely to generate sustained cooperation. Interestingly, he finds little evidence of the continued use of human-rights-specific language beyond antiprivatization to press for better quality and service from public utilities (p. 99). Kristi Heather Kenyon, in “Localizing the Global/Globalizing the Local,” illustrates how human rights involve shared social practice by examining botho in Botswana. “Botho” is an elastic concept loosely referencing humanness and the reciprocity of respect required for community and social harmony. Kenyon explains that botho has been used by the Botswana Network on Ethics, Law and HIV/AIDS, a recognized human rights organization, to translate international human rights locally into community action (pp. 110–16). She acknowledges that her analysis is preliminary; however, it does provide one explanation as to how human rights norms are diffused in Botswana. In “Uneven Ground,” Barbara A. Frey examines the practice of human rights in Mexico, and argues that its uneven application is the result of asymmetries in power among the different human rights actors. After describing these actors (independent NGOs, national human rights institutions, international organizations, and international human rights funders), Frey analyzes the campaign for prison reform to show that the independent NGOs are too reliant on international funders, which makes them susceptible to the funders’ agendas.

Part III centers on the institutional sites of human rights practice. Carrie Booth Walling, in “The UN Security Council,” discusses how human rights norms came to inform the council’s deliberations over the past two decades, from the UN enforcement action against Iraq in 1991 to the application of the responsibility-to-protect principle and the referral of security situations to the International Criminal Court (pp. 145–62). Walling argues, without much supporting evidence, that the council has been influenced by human rights NGOs and has co-opted the NGO strategy of “naming and shaming” in its rhetoric and practices. In “Securitizing Women’s Rights,” Natalie Florea Hudson explores how Security Council resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security has impacted the traditional discourse within the Security Council and in UN peacekeeping operations. The interactions of UN and NGO personnel arguably has contributed to the embedding of women’s rights in the security discourse (p. 180). Mark P. Lagon and Anthony Clark Arend argue that the concept of human dignity, as a universal value, can guide global institutions because it transcends traditional divides and promotes intercultural dialogue.

The Social Practice of Human Rights is an ambitious, useful text that shows the fertile research ground surrounding the practice of human rights. The text could benefit from a more precise definition of practice and practitioner. The definition of practitioners could also be broadened to include the activities of human rights officers and lawyers on the staff of national and international human rights agencies. If the focus of analysis is the human rights advocacy of NGOs, as Pruce states, then the chapters by de Waal and Lagon and Arend do not quite fit with the other selections. Still, the text’s value lies in its descriptive and prescriptive analyses of NGOs that practice human rights.