China, United States, covid-19 and the long-standing question of human rights : problems of a dichotomist approach

Abstract

The paper aims to argue that a dichotomist approach on human rights is a major problem in relations between the United States and China. The argument has been built through a case-study on US-China public discourses on COVID-19 and human rights, which posits that a dichotomist approach has prevented an objective reading of the pandemic processes underway and thus influenced the health crisis’ management on both sides. Furthermore, the paper affirms the need for an historical perspective on the origins of the international human rights regime, in order to weaken the hegemony of the dichotomist approach in the literature, in public discourses and in national policies.