Human Rights, Democracy and Governance

2

Context

Human beings are said to be social animals associating with others in private and political spaces. The fear of loneliness and love for companionship create the context for institutions of private space such as the family and the community. It is not that concerns of security and transaction are absent from private space, but the primary purpose of association in private space is emotion—love, affection, attachment and respect. Frustrations over contestations and conflict in familial relations can be immensely destructive. But such quarrels need a larger structure to become devastating. They have to enter into the arena of political space.

Political space emerges as the site of contestations, conflicts, negotiation, cooperation and ...