Annotation: Lawyer and human rights activist Bill Bowring offers a radical new reading of international law and human rights, passionately defending them against a growing wave of pessimism and devaluation. Drawing on Marxist tradition and contemporary scholarship in the field of critical theory and legal studies, Bowring analyzes both historical and contemporary events at the international level, demonstrating their impact on legal discourse and practice. Soviet international law, armed conflicts in Chechnya at the turn of the century, as the 2003 military operation of the United States and its allies in Iraq are a few of the major events brought into new focus. Further, Bowring conducts constructive polemics with theorists who have challenged the discourse of human rights—in particular, Alain Badiou and Slavoj Žižek. The author also addresses the topic of “legal transplantation” of human rights from one part of the world to another and criticizes legal systems that bypass socioeconomic rights.