Rethinking Social Rights: A Global Lens on Justice and Human Rights (Steven L. B. Jensen)

In this episode of the Transformative Podcast, Radka Šustrová (RECET) speaks with historian and human rights scholar Steven L. B. Jensen. Drawing on his recent keynote at the rountable titled “European Strategies for Strengthening Social Partnership and Labour Rights” in Vienna and his influential work on the global history of human rights, Steven Jensen explores how economic and social rights were fought for—particularly by socialist states and Global South actors—on the international stage after 1945. From Cold War diplomacy to the institutional battles within the United Nations and International Labour Organisation, this conversation highlights the legacies of internationalism, the enduring relevance of “the social,” and the global dimensions of justice.

Steven L. B. Jensen is a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for Human Rights. His work focuses on the historical development of international human rights, human rights diplomacy, and the intersection of global health and rights. He is the author of The Making of International Human Rights: The 1960s, Decolonization, and the Reconstruction of Global Values (Cambridge, 2016) and co-editor of Social Rights and the Politics of Obligation in History (Cambridge, 2022). His current research includes a political history of economic and social rights after 1945.