Five leading thinkers on the concept of rights in an era of rightlessness Sixty years ago the political theorist Hannah Arendt deprived of her German citizenship as a Jew & in exile from her country observed that before people can enjoy any of the inalienable Rights of Man before there can be any specific rights to education work voting & so on there must first be such a thing as the right to have rights The concept received little attention at the time but in our age of refugee crises & extra-state war the phrase has become the center of a crucial & lively debate Here five leading thinkers from varied disciplines including history law & politics discuss the critical issue of the basis of rights & the meaning of radical democratic politics today"