Policy Press

Human rights and civil rights

Human rights and civil rights are one of the most important and fundamental parts of our society, offering guarantees of equal social opportunities and equal protection under the law, regardless of race, religion, gender or other personal characteristics. However these rights are not always universally upheld, leading to extereme injustices around the world.

The books below explore these rights and the impact being denied these rights can have on both individuals and societies. 

Bristol University Press and Policy Press are signed up to the UN SDG Publishers Compact. In this cross-cutting theme, we aim to address the following goal:

SDG Publishers compact logoSDG 10

You may also be interested in our Global Social Challenge on justice, law and human rights.

Showing 37-48 of 200 items.

Politics and Administrative Justice

Postliberalism, Street-Level Bureaucracy and the Reawakening of Democratic Citizenship

This book argues there is urgent need for a radical reassessment of the way the law mediates between citizens and the state. Drawing on public inquiries into high-profile cases, this book examines how the regulation of street-level bureaucracy can play an integral part in reimagining postliberal politics and the role of the law.

Bristol Uni Press

Organising for Change

Social Change Makers and Social Change Organisations

Based on decades of research, this book explores global social change processes through the concepts of social change organisations (SCOs) and social change makers (SCMs) – the individuals working within and alongside SCOs.

Bristol Uni Press

Smart Borders, Digital Identity and Big Data

How Surveillance Technologies Are Used Against Migrants

In recent years, UN agencies, global tech corporations, states and humanitarian NGOs have invested in surveillance technologies to support migrant communities and streamline their management.

This book reveals the way in which they grant extensive powers to states and big tech corporations to control communities.

Bristol Uni Press

North Korean Women and Defection

Human Rights Violations and Activism

Presenting in-depth accounts of North Korean women defectors living in the UK, this book examines how the harrowing experiences they endured and their utopian dream of a better future for fellow North Korean women have become an impetus for their activism.

Bristol Uni Press

Contested Civil Society in Myanmar

Local Change and Global Recognition

ePDFs of chapters 4, 5 and 7 are available Open Access under CC-BY-NC-ND licence

This book illustrates the ways in which contestations in Myanmar society are reflected in civil society. It provides an up-to-date overview of the main identities and contestations in Myanmar society as a whole.

Bristol Uni Press

Sexual History Evidence And The Rape Trial

Adopting a critical multidisciplinary perspective underpinned by feminist theory, this accessible book mounts an important interrogation into the use of a victim’s sexual history as evidence in rape trials.

Bristol Uni Press

White Minds

Everyday Performance, Violence and Resistance

In this powerful book, Kinouani uniquely examines the psychological and psychic factors involved in the reproduction of ‘whiteness’ and reveals how these intersect with race dynamics, race inequality and racial violence.

Policy Press

Tackling Torture

Prevention in Practice

Malcolm D. Evans tells the story of torture prevention under international law, setting out what is really happening in places of detention around the world. Challenging assumptions about torture’s root causes, he calls for what is needed to enable us to bring about change.

Bristol Uni Press

Border Harms and Everyday Violence

A Prison Island in Europe

The Greek island of Lesvos is frequently the subject of news reports on the refugee ‘crisis’. Drawing on her experiences as an activist in Lesvos refugee camps, Iliadou considers the impacts of EU deterrence policies and highlights the global responsibility for safeguarding refugees’ human rights.

Bristol Uni Press

Activist Feminist Geographies

Exploring what it means to enact feminist geography, this book joins cases of collaborative research with social justice activist movements. From Black feminist organizing in the American South to feminist geography collectives in Latin America, the book showcases activist-engaged scholarship from the global north and south.

Bristol Uni Press

Participating in Peace

Violence, Development and Dialogue in Colombia

This book reflects on what people in two different Colombian communities have achieved through participatory peacebuilding. The authors explore different forms of local agency, the prospects for non-extractive academic engagement, and practical and theoretical lessons for participating in peace in other conflict-affected settings.

Bristol Uni Press

Class and Social Background Discrimination in the Modern Workplace

Mapping Inequality in the Digital Age

This book exposes how inequalities based on class and social background arise from employment practices in the digital age. Examining the ways in which digitalisation creates risks of discrimination, the book proposes essential law reform and improvements to workplace policy.

Bristol Uni Press