Models of consensus and compromise on human rights and dignity

The theorization of the possibility of a world consensus on human rights and dignity (in connection with human rights) has given rise to different normative models. In this chapter, I take these models as interpretive—rather than normative—and I apply them to a specific argumentative setting: the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Since none of the models examined—strict consensus, incompletely theorized agreements, and overlapping consensus—proves to be fully satisfactory in the interpretation of what happened in that particular historical moment, I also consider two complementary models, which emphasise the role of compromise over the idea of consensus, namely modus vivendi and moral modus vivendi.(undefined